Carnivale Crasher
by Akashic-Intent
Summary: A blatant self-insertion, the author is exactly their 220lbs, 33 yeard old self, lost in Carnivale Row from our world. The story explores humanity and friendship, as well as political and strategic warfare. Taking place after the events of Season 1. Spoilers. Armed with a smartphone, valor and mental illness, I make a realistic head-on assault of the social issues of the world.
1. Chapter 1: Foreward

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**Chapter 1: Foreward**

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**Super-Insertion **[soo-per]-[in-sur-shuh n]

_Noun_

Plural: Super-Insertions

1\. A story, tale of fictional work in which the writer injects an accurate or near accurate version of themselves, to include no notable adjustments of mental, social, spiritual or physical traits, including but not limited to advanced physique, greater mental acuity, magic or superpowers.

**Etymology:**

'Super' In 'Super Insertion' is both to mean extreme and a reference to Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; Super Ego.

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**Synopsis**

(further details can be found below, in the section "About the Story" below)

A man with a troubled past, strong convictions, and mental illness finds himself in a strange new world of political dissonance between humans and fantastic beings called fae. Armed with a fully functioning smartphone he decides to personally tackle the problems of the world in a desperate and dangerous bout to make it a better place for all and to heal the wounds of his own past.

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**UPDATES**

Because whenever the story has a new chapter posted or a small spelling error corrected, FanFiction sends everyone a message that says

"Carnivale Crashed

Followed Updated Carnivale Row"

Which is useless in determining what changes have been made to the story and could send people on a wild goose chase. this section will now be maintained to reflect any recent updates as well as dates they were changed on.

Updates will only be kept for one month and then deleted off to keep the updates section a little more tidy. This means if it was added on the 5th of December that it will be removed on the 5th of January. Or at least I'll try to remove it by then.

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**Current Progress:**  
I will keep this section semi-updated to tell where I am with the story and when future releases might be happening.

Current Chapter Available:  
10

Current Chapter in progress:  
23

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12/30/19  
Hey all, sorry it's been a hell of a delay, no I haven't forgotten about this story, I just finished what amounts to my second eviction (its more complicated than that but the result's the same) in as many years and am now back on the road. Been on if for a few days now so huzzah, just trying to get back into the swing of things. I'm too burned to write a new chapter now so maybe I'll edit and post one. We'll see.

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**NEWS**

This section is for news about the story and things surrounding it.

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Hey all, so I have a forum set-up for this story, you can find it here:

www. fanfiction myforums/Akashic-Intent/12913824/

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The forum includes a section for suggestions, I'm usually too behind in posting chapters to be for immediate things but you never know.

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The forum also holds a section called 'Let's Talk'. This is here because I've gotten to the point that I really want to meet some of my readers. I don't really expect a whole lot of you, it's kind of a weird story, but I'd like to get to know you.

In 'Let's Talk' we can discuss the story, myself, you, life in general and something else I'd be happy to talk about, mental health. You see this story doesn't obscure or glorify my mental struggles which frequently involve thoughts of violence.

I'm actually not a violent person, by history I have done very, very little in the way of violence but I do have and entertain violent thoughts from time to time. I think in our current atmosphere it's very uncomfortable to mention that you want to just fuck some shit up sometimes. I don't think this is helping us, I think repressing it and hiding it doesn't help us to overcome it.

We need to be able to discuss how mad we get at times, how sometimes we want to engage in violent action. I am in no way promoting actually doing that, I am saying we need a safe outlet to discuss it in.

If your reading this story, you know me better than any of my closest friends with the exception of my fiance. You know what I think about and how I think about it and I think that talking with such a known individual could be helpful and fun.

If all you want to do is drop-in, talk about that shitty thing that happened to you or the crappy day you've had, that's not just ok, it's great. Stop in and vent a little.

So, whatever your reasons are, drop in to Let's Talk and let's talk.

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**About the Story**

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Hello reader, this is my first ever fanfiction and it awkwardly breaks the taboo of self-insertions quite spectacularly. As you probably gathered from the new dictionary entry above, this is what is called a 'super-insertion'. In it, I will be playing my 33 yeard old, 220 lbs self.

This is not a power fantasy nor is it The Legend of Korra Getting Her Asskicked. This is a story about how a highly motivated, regular joe from our world, might be able to change the political and social landscape of Carnival Row.

The story follows basic rules and logic of our world as best I can follow them so that means progression is a little slow. It takes me about seven days to lose 2lbs, 220 hours to be able to learn basic words of a new language and weeks of effort to change popular opinion. Details of these progressions will be tracked at the end of each chapter. (this feature is coming soon and is not currently implemented).

The story does have some exciting surprises, especially the further in you go and is currently planned to take place over several books. Here are some elements good or bad that I hope I have achieved in this story:

\- Running into new and familiar faces

\- Political Espionage

\- A Deep look into a traumatized but not completely broken mind

\- Quintessential Humanity

\- Plummeting Lows, Dizzying Heights

\- Slow Progression

\- Wordcount heavy chapters (Chapter 6 is 11,000+ words)

\- Decent editing

-Stylish Formatting

-Expansion on the lore of Haruspexy and Mimas

-Strong character interactions

-If I've done well with this story at all, then the thing it will do most is make you feel, it will remind you of your own failures and how you've overcome them or they still linger and haunt you, it will bring hope to your future and just what you can accomplish, it will touch you by the friendships you've had and it will invite you to look deep into your own psyche as you see clearly in a rare glimpse of someone else's.

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**Current Cast of Characters**

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**Unofficial (OC)**

Brandon - Myself

Aine (on-ya) - Faerie owner of a pub and my closest friend in the story

Branca - Faun owner of the local paper (I still need to give it a damn name)

Aden - Branca's son with a questionable history

Jason 'Faeson' - Member of the Black Raven

Niamh (Nee-Ev) - helpful assistant and tutor, fairly shy.

Kya (KI-Uh) - A flamboyant and flirtatious faerie, works at Tetherby Hall.

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**Official**

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Mima Sawsaan - A helpful friend and ally

Mima Roosan - A wise, reserved, woman, former leader of Anoun, an ally

Jonah Breakspear - Current Chancellor, enemy

Sophie Breakspear - Leader of the Opposition, enemy

Dahlia - Leader of the Black Raven, a complicated semi-frequent face in later chapters

Madame Moira - Owner of the brothel; Tetherby Hall.

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Slated to appear in the distant future is also Philo and Vignette but that is a long time off, book 2 perhaps.

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**ORIGINAL FORWARD**

Hey all, this is my first ever fanfic and it does break some solid rules of fan fiction. Let it first be said I don't really read fanfic but I think about it a lot.

So here is the premise, it's not just a self-insertion, its a blatant terrible self-insertion, I'm not playing Carnivale Row me, I am playing a slightly different version of this me. Like same name, same background, beliefs, etc... I am from this earth, lost in the world of Carnivale Row.

This is not a story about the main characters of the series, it is not about how wonderful I am to them or how they hang on my every word. This is not about my awesome time in Carnivale Row. This is about how a 220 lb modern-day person could tactically free the Fae from the ghetto they have been put in armed only with modern knowledge in the form of my own experiences and a smartphone that is still linked to the internet and a daylight charger.

**Edit: **This edit comes from a divergence from the intended story format which I ran into as a literary issue around Chapter 3. The point is that some of the above does not stay wholly accurate but all parts will still be represented. As I researched strategies and played through the events, like any good story, I discovered unforeseen changes.

So I stay up at night thinking about this story, I contemplate the tactics, the warfare, and strategies. Its why I'm writing it, I've never been so gripped by a concept. This is like half story, half strategy game, that you can take a part in, you get to be my support or my opposition, suggest your ideas and I will read them and quite possibly use them. (See 'suggestions' below)

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**A note on Auther's Notes (AN):**

Author's Notes apparently tend to contain shit about what they did that day or other shit unrelated to the story. Mine will not, my notes are only about the story and issues or points of note relating to it. I do not write this story as say one would a book. It is a journey, a journey to see where it goes and what happens, I invite you to come along with me on this journey and so my notes reflect that.

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**Warnings:**

This story is centered around me, my beliefs and politics will certainly show in my character's actions, I swear (a lot but prob not high schooler level, more sailor) it's a crude portrayal of exactly who and what I am. I am not interested in arguing politics, beliefs or any of that in the comments. If you disagree, that's cool, it's your right.

I consider myself to be a storyteller and in general, I find that focusing on politics or beliefes in a story is an affront to the craft, they are meant to be entertaining, not preachy. This will still not preach but heavy elements such as politics, world views, and whatnot will enter into play, its just the nature of this particular beast.

I can't sum up my political beliefs in one simple word like liberal or conservative or libertarian or what have you. As for religion, I am Christian with basically no love for churches, I don't hate them but I don't like them.

I don't think this shit will be entered into plot in a way that will be offensive beyond that someone has an opinion not your own. I may as my character at times say something like 'Fuck (that thing you like)', as a character or as me but I as the author will not be attempting to make the point that if you believe differently you are wrong.

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**Edit: **When I say 'not preach' I must explain. In a world where one person controls all of the people and reality, it's really pointless to say ''A' leads to 'B' and thus anyone who believes it instead leads to 'C' is wrong'. Of course reality, like Thanos, can be whatever I want. So the story itself, the world does not try to outline what is and isn't right but the Character, namely me, is an opinionated fuck.

TLDR this is a story, the character has Strong opinions, you may not agree with them. That's cool, the author is not trying to attack your beliefs. If you can't dig it, here is your port of harbour.

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**Objectives**

The Objectives are numerous for my character and change as the story hopefully progresses but the objective of the story is to be accurate, if something wouldn't work than it doesn't work, shit can and will go wrong, anything that requires chance must be assessed at the likelihood and a percentile die will be rolled.

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**The changes:**

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**Story-**

1\. Philo and Vignette (sp?) made it to the train, they are not in the story, they are gone. This isn't really a story about talking to primary characters

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**Personal-**

1\. I have been engaged for 8 years now, if my fiance existed my only objective would be to return home so that entire set-up has been removed. Instead, all the events of my life over that past 8 years are the same except that I was alone, which mostly works out.

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**The rules:**

1\. No super me, I'm 33, 220 lbs and generally look in a range from ok to total shit (my fiancee disagrees, ain't she sweet). No one just sees me and falls in love or says; "yeah, this is the guy I'd die for". Every interaction must be earned, it must make sense. To assist, I will take advice or suggestions from the readers and I have my fiance here with me.

2\. If it has a chance of going wrong, I will do my best to accurately assess the risk and roll percentile. (These likelihoods will be super difficult to calculate, especially as I get into the battle scenes.)

3\. Carnivale Row does not exist in 'my' world, I have not seen it, I do not know anything about what is going on. I'll have to learn it. Due to limited information I may at times come up with details that are inaccurate, I'll try to avoid it but it is what it is.

4\. A solar charger is probably a useless device for a smartphone but the purposes of this story; battery life will never be an issue.

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**Note: **I write fast, this is not super professional, I don't plan on doing any additional passes on this, its just for fun so the reading may be rough as fuck.

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**Offering suggestions:**

This can be for probability or how you think the populace will respond or whatever

I'll take suggestions but only as suggestions, please link your sources, I need to be able to read about it so I'm sorry personal experience or profession will not be accepted alone. I mean, how do I know you're a legit historian and not a 12-year-old, but do mention if you have an applicable background, if what you say at least lines up with what I can research I'll be more willing to take it on faith in the future.

Also if the suggestion is just opinion based like "The people would not agree with that etc..." That is taken on faith, you know why? Because you can't be wrong, you are 'the people' so even if your reaction is atrocious shit, it's still how some people would respond, or if you just think people are shit bags I'll take into account. Please tell me if its how you personally feel or if you just think its how people will react. If its what you think and not how you feel I will need historical precedence, the closer to the times (people living like they do in Carnivale Row v.s. say ancient Greece or the modern era) the better.

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**No Promises:**

I come up with artistic projects all the time, I tend to drop them frequently when I lose interest. That is likely to happen here, but I also have a sort of artistic seasons and I will usually return to old projects that I lost interest in. So this project may experience sudden booms of writing and then long dead periods.

Also, as of writing this I am on Chapter 4 and nothing has been posted online, I wanted to make sure I was going to stick with it.


	2. Chapter 2: The Arrival

**Chapter 2: The Arrival**

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Sudden alien sounds attacked in a burst of confusion, the world blurred in dark grey and blue tones as I looked around rapidly trying to make sense of the sudden changes. I must have fallen over at some point and I felt my legs push my back up against a hard surface. Brick, I think.

Awareness began to come in along with rapid breathing and heightened blood sugar, well at least I thought it was a blood sugar problem I never looked into it much but I felt faint and weakened in a way I found difficult to describe.

As the blurring calmed, my eyes slowed their pace and I started to ground, I took in my environment.

There were people in a busy pace rushing about, a horse or two passing through, the buildings were short like old town and made of brick, it had such vibrant character set against such drab color. The details I could hardly gather, there was however a small crowd that had stopped and were looking over me.

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(crowed roll 1d4+2, Result: 5)

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They wore the faces of people who'd just witnessed a car accident. Concern and shock, I could hear them murmur in quieter tones of care and interest. Their clothes looked like they were off the set of Sweeny Todd.

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(Race 1/4 = Pix, and gender 1/2: male for the guy below )

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"Are you alright?" A male voice asked, he was hunched in front of me looking closely at me.

"He's human?!" Another, younger voice whispered under their breath, too young to know the gender.

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At that, I stared at impossible until it made sense, Horns, hoofs, wings, and a fucking centaur... My thoughts raced, 'holy shit, what the fuck is going on?'. I considered my options; movie set? Convention? Should I play dumb or play to their potential sympathy? Fuck what if all the humans are dead? What if it's illegal to be human here?

At times of panic, my mind could generate horrifying potentials faster than the speed of light, risk assessment, and danger. I had at one point self-diagnosed as an alarmist, I later read an article that people with abusive parents often are, it made sense and assuming people were shit more often than not paid out in my favor but I also at times knew how to manipulate a mind or at least know what they were thinking. Usually, it wasn't as cool or helpful as it seemed. Knowing you were gonna get fucked often didn't come with a sensible solution for not getting fucked.

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"Uhh," In doubt I considered my response, I decided to let them forward the conversation, let me see their cards and not reveal my own. 'Where the fuck am I' I wondered as I cautious but as confidently as possible replied: "Yeah, I'm fine, just took a spill is all, thanks". I rose to my feet looking away. 'How could I blend in, I wear a black beret and a long military trench coat, the beret could never hide the kind of horns I was seeing but the coat could hide those wings, not something they seemed to do but it'd be better than admitting to being an outright outsider.

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In my panic, I glanced about the environment once more. There was a small crowd of people huddled over me. They wore short coats with wool collars or fur, the colors were dark and dull. Then I looked beyond at the buildings; 'they resemble London... sorta' I thought. I recalled where I had been and what I was seeing just didn't make sense to this. Tall metal support structures ran down the ally 'or possible street?' I was in.

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'On second thought fuck this!' I thought, I need to get away from these guys and blend in. I began to walk away. As I presumed, it was too forward to follow me and no one was crying out the rooftops "HUMAN!" So maybe it wasn't illegal to be human but they did know what I was.

Though none of it made sense to me, I had to accept what I was seeing as truth and proceed from there. My breath was rapid, steam launching fourth from the cloth over my mouth constantly. While I was just shy of a full panic attack, it did help with the 'unapproachable' vibe.

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Tight streets and busy paces were everywhere I looked, even the fucking alleys bustled with life. I kept getting weird looks and couldn't find a place to hide. I saw some white rags on wooden crates in what appeared to be refuse or at least not the sort of stuff people would feel strongly about losing. I grabbed one and wrapped it around my face covering all but my eyes. I tucked them into my jacket and sticking out of the chest. They appeared bloody or rusty but dry and musty.

The more I looked like a dredge of society the better, my clothes were fitted by comparison to the common wear, save for my 2-panel military trench coat. I wanted to look unapproachable, like a leper or some shit. I tied the rags around my jacket sleeves at random points like bandages. A funny thing about disguise is that people miss the details in favor of the obvious, Wanna rob a bank? wear a nose ring, 30 clip-on piercings and as many convincing fake tattoos as possible and no one robs or talks to people that look like shit.

The hat had to go, I have unkempt as fuck long, curly black hair that I tossed all over my face. I made my changes quickly as I walked. Then to finish it off, I casually rolled, like a somersault through some mud being sure to get plenty dirty.

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You really can get away with weird shit like this in public without much notice, I used to play with it a lot in high school.

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It was cold to the point of pain, my right arm dripped with the near ice water and its chill cut to my bones. I hated that sensation but the excitement and feeling like a fucking CIA op felt pretty damn cool. It'd been some time since I'd done anything thrilling and this was the most exhilarating thing I'd ever done.

I was now dirty, covered in some fucked up rags and had the hair of a young Albert Einstein turned mugger, no one was gonna talk to me.

Confidence had left me a few years back and I almost hated who I was now but in this moment I could summon the old me, the one I had hoped I would one day find again. I could once again project that aura of fear or discomfort.

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(**AN:** no, not like a superpower, yes, I used to do this, can't much do it now, being fat (lol) and lacking strong confidence kinda kills it but I do think I could again under the circumstances, and I have done a quick change like this with shit I've found before.)

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I didn't understand exactly how it works but it has to do with how you act, you walk angrily or oddly, you feel an emotion deep inside like an actor and people can sense it, we all have this sort of 6th sense that alerts us to the unusual. By projecting like this I could trigger that sense and it made people uncomfortable, no one wanted to look at me much less talk to me.

It was my only defense, for now.

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Now I could start to study to just where the hell I was. Barbed wire ran above the streets at about two stories up and above forming a metal spider's web of pain and I saw a plastered sign that read:

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WARNING

any individuals seen flying will be

SHOT ON SIGHT

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'Shit!, this isn't some Fae society, this is a ghetto, like a real one, not a slum but some Nazi-shit ghetto, they're prisoners here.' I reasoned.

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I had a suspicion and I began to look around for more evidence to confirm or disprove it. Lithe girls with wild and beautiful hair were around, centaurs, satyrs and even some kind of hob or troll-like creatures were about but the more I looked there wasn't a single human.

I was reminded of Dragon Age, I watched a friend play it and in it, elves were little better than second class citizens, it was the oddest take on the fair folk I'd ever seen, a creature so beautiful and powerful subjugated and subject to the cruelty of man. As best I could tell, that was what was happening here. They didn't seem violent or vicious, if anything, they were cowed and fearful, It hurt seeing something of pure fantasy and wonder, in such a state.

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'How did things get this way?' I wondered, but for now, I had an immediate problem. I needed food, my blood sugar was still off and if I didn't eat I would grow weak and confused. Nowadays if left unchecked it could make it hard to do any kind of physical labor.

I had no money, nothing to trade and no one to ask for some help. This is the very definition of 'Fucked' Page 879 of Merriam and Websters, Check it out if you like.

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After some quick contemplation about my situation, I came to a harsh but obvious conclusion. In past events, when everything sucked but there was only one way out, I had come to accept it rather quickly. I then worked towards the solution. This goes against my ongoing belief that there are, at the very least, 3, solutions to every problem and to not lock oneself down in a false dichotomy but in this case, I think my chosen solution was the most preferable. I could steal the food as one of my other options and frankly, I was having real trouble coming up with a third at the moment. Its the nature of the human mind to always see two options and miss a sometimes obvious third, not sure why really but I was no different.

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(**AN:** While editing this I came up with a 3rd, eat from garbage cans or whatever I can find)

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I continued my stroll through the streets but this time I changed back, removing the rags, lowering the uncomfortable aura and placing my hat back on. The rags, I shoved into my very large pockets in case I needed the disguise again. In what I suspected was some of the finer garments around, what I was about to attempt seemed pretty laughable or frankly Ironic.

After a short stroll I found a small restaurant, with little effort I proceeded around back. I was preparing to engage another superpower of mine, the mud on my jacket wasn't the most visible, brown on black and all but it helped me be convincing and not bizarrely suspicious.

I wasn't sure what the hat was doing for me. I waited in the back alley behind a restaurant beside where the door would open.

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You see, if you sit in a blind spot like this you can make it appear as though when another person arrived, you were just passing through, like they caught you mid-movement and you hadn't been waiting for this exact moment. This helps with not appearing awkward while you make sure your in the right place at the right time. It's also good for eavesdropping, as they near your position and thus visibility just simply walkout at a set pace like you've been doing it the whole time. No one spying walks towards their target, do they?

Am I some kind of government spook? No, just a loser with weird habits and a love for psychology.

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when the door opened I reached my hand out and caught the edge.

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"Oh, sorry about that," I said in their British-esq accent, I'd heard it around and I pick up accents easily, though let's be fair Britain has like 100 accents, this was one of the more common ones. "Here, let me get this for you" I continued.

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(Race 1d6 = Trow, gender 1d2 = Male, I did 1d8 first and got a centaur but how the hell would a centaur be working in a tight restaurant so I rolled again with centaurs removed)

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A large greyish creature with dark-spotted face markings and rounded bulbous features came out. "Huh?" The creature responded in a somewhat slow seeming and simple reply.

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It may well be that this creature is, in fact, simple as his voice suggested but if I treated him as such and I was wrong it'd be a grave insult, besides, it's just a dick move.

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"I was just passing through, I wanted to grab the door for you is all" I explained. He was carrying two plates with leftover trash on them. I released the door and went to fetch the trashcan lid for him. When I saw there wasn't one. He looked at me and grumbled as he started to scrap the plates using each other as shovels, pushing the food onto the ground.

"Busy night?" I asked

"Busy" He replied. 'Well, this chatty fuck was hard to work with.' I noted.

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(probability of Success simple 1d100, 1 is shit, 100 is super easy, result 24... hrmmm)

(**Chance:** of Trow being owner, 1/10 result: he is not.

I didn't really imagine a restaurant being owned by a Trow, maybe they're smarter than I give them credit but all the other Fae are fairly close to what you might expect give or take, Faun are a far cry off but I figure Trow not so much)

(Owner 1d2 Faerie or Faun Result: Faun, Male,

**Chance:**Belongs to the Faun Cult 5% chance, (I thought 60% chance but fiance points out that out of all of Carnivale Row, the place, there was only about 20 and for them to be a shop owner they'd have to be the leaders of the thing) Result: 03, yup its actually the fucking cult center, seriously? 5% chance. Well, my luck tracks, even in fiction)

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"Well, seeings how I don't have much else to do, maybe you'd like a hand?"

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He stopped what he was doing and looked up at me, he looked suspicious of me. The long stare and assessment made me super uncomfortable, I can feel a bad situation more often than not and what was already shitty was heading South the way the Titanic headed into an iceberg.

His eyes looked at my coat then moved up to my hat while I nervously waited for him to tell me to fuck off. At this point its what I wanted.

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"We don't need you!" He said in a low gruff tone.

"Yup, gotcha. We'll have a nice night" I said as I was already turning away and getting the fuck out of that alley. Superpower my ass... I have on multiple occasion, in our modern world of weirdos in trench coats and public shootings, even in my black beret, made 30-minute small talk on dangerous city streets with complete strangers at 3 am. My ability to befriend has impressed more than a few but hell, we all get shafted sometimes.

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'Weapon time' I considered. I turned the alley passed a broken down cheap wooden crate. I thrust my heel down on the crate and freed some shards of wood. The sharpest of which I picked up, it was about 12 inches, perfect for me. I took its 'handle' and 'sanded' it against the brick wall to remove potential splinters. I used to make wooden tools like this when I was young, though, those ones were for carving dirt and not flesh. Let's just hope I don't need it, I'm scared, not stab happy.

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'Ok, take 2,' I reassured myself 'I don't have a better idea yet but I do have a few addendums, those girls with the wings and cute hair seem more approachable than most, I'll scope out a restaurant that has a few of them inside, but not from inside, can't be seen 'casing' the joint. God, I sound like a crook.' I amused myself with the thought.

This isn't unlike the handful of times I've sold shit door to door, the best of which was when I sold Kirby, I sold two in my very first day and a third two workdays later. Basically the first three houses I went into and stayed in for more than 20 minutes, I got a little keychain and everything. I digress however, the point is to keep trying, door closes, fuck it, go to the next.

After a bit more searching I found my next mark, I window shopped the store across the street from it, staring into the reflection of the glass and watching the activity in the diner... "Is that right? is it accurate to call it a dinner? Pub. I stared into the pub... What if they don't serve beer? Pff, please, in this place it's probably water that they don't serve.'.

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(Race chance 60% pix, 30% faun, 10% Trow, result: Pix, Gender chance 70%: Female)

(It seems much more likely to me to find a Pix running a place than a troll and after 3 rolls of Troll, I changed the chance ratio. I'm sorry there just aren't 4 restaurants all run by Trolls which is what those rolls suggested. As for gender chance, it's true you don't hardly see trow but I was saying its even numbers for each race, although now that I think of it, it's unlikely.

I was arguing with myself that even bc it was probably just budget reasons that Trow weren't as prominent but think this, how the hell would those sluggish bastards make it to the boats to escape, No it makes sense that in order of populace its Pix (they can fly to the boats) Faun (they can run fast and probably swim ok) Centaur (their fast but I bet the swim slow as fuck) then Trow which is just a big 'How the fuck are any left' and also more female Pix than male, it was true in the show but it also makes sense, the males died in the war a lot, not that the women weren't fighting but I don't think it started that way, look at the city where Philo and Vignette met)

(**Chance:** difficulty 1d100: result 92 (very easy, she's amicable))

(**Chance:** how long does it take her to come out 1d2 hours: 2 hours)

**AN:** the result of 92 will be used to derive her personality from this point forward, she won't inconsistently be amicable now and then without provocation decide she can't stand me. This is true for all these rolls but this one will be relevant.

~O~

~O~

Staring into the imperfect glass in front of me, catching the reflection behind me was no easy feat but I'd trained my eyes for such little endeavors over a childhood of snooping about. An optician once pegged me as having 13/20 vision, which also helps. It wasn't the most formal test so that estimate is a little give or take but still, that's pretty damn good vision.

After a time I made out what I was pretty sure was a magenta haired, winged girl, serving tables. 'Her, she's probably approachable.', I thought. waitresses get treated like shit, an once of kindness goes a long way with a person like that. I don't mean to sound like a jackass but in our heads were more honest and honestly, I'm fucking hungry.

~O~

'If I don't eat and soon I'm gonna be in real fucking trouble. Then I can set about figuring out where I'm gonna sleep tonight, this place is pretty damn cold.' I reasoned.

~O~

After a short amount of effort, I was in position again in the back alley. 'God I feel like a schmuck' I thought. The more I repeat shit like this, the less genuine it becomes. I waited there poised at first, then I relaxed against the wall, the weakening hunger increased and I began to overheat and then sweat.

I tried to stay standing but as time passed by my legs got sore. I have awkward feet and standing even for 10 minutes begins to hurt, I only recently learned that wasn't normal, always wondered how 10-hour guard shifts were anything but fucking torture. Between my feet and my condition, I was on my ass after 10 minutes. I looked awkward as fuck to people who passed by through the alley, just sitting there tossing rocks about in boredom. Even got fixated on a lone ant for a bit. I got tired but I definitely could not sleep.

I've been a trucker for 2 years now, about as long as I've been homeless, I do live with my mom when I'm home, but this vagrant life has made me quite willing to do things I never would have considered. If the door didn't open soon I was probably seriously going to dig through the trash in the alley and find something edible. I really, really didn't want to do that but this condition grips me. I've spent whole paychecks on fast food bc I didn't have the time to cook and needed to eat. It was the same desperation here but with none of the quality.

A hard life that had recently gotten much harder and prepared my soul against such hopelessness. I'd probably be suicidal by now if it hadn't.

~O~

'I'm lost in some weird dimension, it looks like the fucking nazis are in power and I'm homeless, jobless and starving in an alley. Will I ever get home? How did I get here? Will I ever see my mother again?' Thoughts and questions wandered through my mind as I waited.

~O~

After what was certainly more than an hour the door had opened suddenly and abruptly, I had long been playing in the dirt, drawing little symbols. I'm kind of childish. the heat in my body had come and gone twice and I felt quite faint. The shock jumped me to my feet however but not before the door hit me.

~O~

'Ah!...' I announced in a slight amount of pain, at times I'm sorta wimpy when it comes to pain, even when just startled I tend to say 'ow'. Of course, there are times when I take a real blow and just walk it off.

"huh?!" A young female voice announced.

~O~

When I got a look at her up close I began to take in all the details. Over the course of our conversation, I had noted the following; Her hair was indeed magenta, brighter than I would have thought possible, even with dye. She kept it in a loose updo of curly locks with tussles draping down around her sylvan face. She had bright mixed-matched eyes, one green, and one brown. Her nose was slender and cutely pointed. her skin was a warm pale ivory.

What she lacked in make-up she made up for in black smudges of soot or something. Not that I was capable of noticing it but she did, however, wear a dull burgundy lipstick and some simple eyeliner. I just could never tell if a woman was wearing make-up, it wasn't something I looked for, I just thought that you'd like to know.

She had on at the time a dark red, braided, long sleeve sweater that had been well worn around the sleeves and fraying. Later I learned that when out and about she wore a chartreuse jacket of some bulk. Below she was wearing a lined, 3 layer skirt. It alternated between wine red and ash grey stripes. The third layer had a patterned border at the bottom.

'I hate being fat. And old. And human.'

~O~

~O~

(**AN:** Fun fact, living with my fiance and getting into make-up with her I do now know what to look for when a woman is wearing make-up, but this me doesn't have a fiance, sooo...)

(**AN:** Also if you'd like to see the basis for Aine in the show check out EP 2 24:26, she's in the lime green jacket, I know I said chartreuse but I didn't want to spell it again and lime is easier to know, she's also before that scene. Aine obviously has differences, I was just looking for outfits for her description and found that one.)

~O~

~O~

"Uh, here let me get this door for you," I said politely forgetting my accent. 'Shit.'.

"Oh, I.. I'm so sor..." The young girl had peered around the door, she stopped in shock staring at me. "human..." she whispered in a bit of fright.

~O~

~O~

(**AN:** There was a time when I thought Carnivale Row was just a small portion of The Burge but actually it seems to be everything south of the river so it couldn't possibly be devoid of humans as much as I'd originally thought. I justify it later but I kept this line in while editing because I liked the conversation too much.)

~O~

~O~

"Yeah but I'm not like those other assholes," I said with an amused, joking smile. "Really, every once in a hundred years one of us is born not being a dick and then we all take turns fucking with him." I continued.

She let out an audible giggle not sure how to respond. "Well, what can I do for ya"

Maybe it's a good thing, maybe its not but I can't keep a lie in the face of honesty and it felt like it was a better way to get what I wanted than playing games. "Actually, since you mention it, I was sorta hoping you needed some help in the..."

She cut me off cautiously explaining "I can't affo..."

I continued with but one beat skipped "In trade for say 2 meals, one to get started and one at the end of the night. I'll eat whatever was gonna go to waste and in trade, I will do whatever the hell you need me to." I concluded.

She thought on it for a moment, her soft features and gentle complexion pondered it "Well ya do look like ya could use it. Alright, but I expect ya ta work" she said as firmly as an unbroken young girl could.

"No trouble there" I replied with a smile. "I really do need to eat before I can start though. No tricks"

She gave me an up and down, probably like I gave her a few times 'c'mon I'm only fucking human, what would you do? I'm not trying to bang her, she's just pretty'.

"Yeah, I can see that" she continued "Ya look like the death has got ya, but I warn ya, No tricks or there'll be hell to pay, ya hear me".

"Yes, ma'am" I continued entertained "Honestly, I'm actually quite happy to help each other out, I admit I have little kitchen experience and I freaking hate it but I'll do whatever you need though, I do have many years experience as a janitor". I pointed out.

She had turned and began dumping several plates into the alley "What's that then" she replied with some distracted confusion. 'The irony.'.

"never mind..." I began with some undertones of frustration "Probably hasn't been invented yet. I clean shit." I told her. 'Heh, literally.'.

"Well, I could do with some cleaning about, but after we close. That's in 2 hours or so, pretty good deal ya got yourself, 2 hours of work for 2 meals..." She continued as she finished the task. "Come on in then, but eat quickly, and what is it you'll be having?" She rattled out all quite rapidly.

~O~

I've kinda got some odd hearing problem, its new but I don't always hear things right so there was a pause as I puzzled out everything she said.

~O~

"I hate to ask but is any kind of meat on the menu?" I replied, I really did hate asking extra of a person that was helping but realistically its what I needed.

"Aye, that it is" she continued "Your not like any of the humans I've ever met, you're not from The Burgue are ya? That accent of yours is quite odd.". 'Hah, that's cute, she thinks I have an accent. We all know that America is bland and accentless unless you brought one with you, which I did not.' I mused to myself and my imagined audience.

~O~

I pegged it, she spoke in an Irish or Scottish accent, sorta. I'll be honest I can't easily tell the difference but I don't think the Scottish say 'Aye' so Irish and makes sense, Ireland in my world is where the fae legends come from. Interesting to see some parallels. Also, yes at this point I am pretty damn sure I'm in another dimension.

~O~

"The Burgue?" I questioned, "No, that's not where I'm from, I'm a traveler actually.". Technically true, I've seen most of the US as a trucker.

"Well, where are you from then?" She continued. Couldn't think of a way to avoid that question, so here goes trying to dodge it.

"Name's Brandon, you run this place?" I replied

"I'm Áine, and yeah, I do, it's a small restaurant, really only need myself to run it, hope you have a pallet for Fae foods cause that's all we serve," She said explaining quickly as she fetched me a plate from various frying pans on her stove. It was an old cast iron thing that burned wood to heat the restaurant and cook the food. Cast Iron stove I believe they're called. We had one in our garage for a minute, I think it's still there.

~O~

The plate she handed me had some kind of sauteed meat in strips, some vegetables and some of the best-smelling potatoes I've ever seen. I fucking love potatoes.

~O~

"I expect that done in about 10 minutes, then you help me with these dishes.", she pointed to a pile of backed up dishes half a mile high. It occurred to me she's been stuck in some kind of rush, its why it took her two fucking hours to open the backdoor.

"Yeah, I have a condition, it'll be a little slow at first but I'll make up for it, I can work hard and fast when I'm not like this," I said wiping some sweat from my brow.

~O~

She shook her head uncertain and concerned, I was gonna put those fears to rest I told myself. Who wants to be a fucking leech. After a brief scarfing of all the food on that plate, I rose up, felt a little woozy but getting better quickly and headed to the dishes. I grabbed two and went for the door. Like the Troll/hob I saw earlier I just scraped them off into the ally as my brain triggered the thought 'OSHA INTENSIFIES'.

After some time, I had scrapped them all clean. Aine came and went from the kitchen cooking and serving, she was, at least for this moment, seriously understaffed. I gathered that she didn't trust people, it was a city of people probably looking for opportunity. I think she agreed to me because she needed the help and was scared of me being human and looking all militant, the weight also probably suggested I was important. I would not miss that going, it'd probably take the pre-diabetes I developed with it too, 'see ya around fuck face!' I reflected on the diabetes.

I wanted to talk to her more, get to know her but she was so busy, I just made sure the dishes were getting done quickly. My hands were fucking killing me. I seriously hate dishes, at least they didn't have our stupid fascination with tall glasses you had to break your palm to reach down into.

That water I was washing them in didn't have soap, no surprise there. Probably didn't exist yet. It did have something else in it though, with a funny smell but I didn't know what it was and it was hard to know if it was a cleaning agent or just all the food left in the dishwater.

These dishes were, by today's standard, not clean, not clean at fucking all.

~O~

As things were brought to a close and the last patrons left, I finished the dishes, Aine started to wipe the tables. "Nope," I said to her aloud.

"What?" She replied uncertainly.

"No, you did me a huge favor, have a seat, let's eat something and then you relax, I'll get this place cleaned up". The mind of a manipulator never rests and while it is that I did genuinely want to repay her kindness I was also hoping to get more from her, I really didn't want to wander alien streets well after dark, armed with a toothpick looking for a place to sleep.

~O~

Besides, I needed to learn things, like what the hell was going on here. The ghetto state drew immediate concerns. I know quite well the levels of human maliciousness and I could tell it was only a matter of time before the extermination squads rolled through here and killed everyone. Remember when I said I was an alarmist. Yeah...

~O~

She stopped in response to my offer "Alright..." She said nodding cautiously. "And don't think I didn't notice you never mentioning where you were from..." she added

"Never assumed you were dumb, just polite" I complimented her. "I appreciate it"

~O~

Aine had grabbed us two plates of what was left, it was some pretty hefty portions. She set them on the table I'd wiped down. We began to eat in a moment of silence before I broke it.

~O~

"Aine, where are you from?" I asked trying to learn things and not step in a land mine, it was important to not ask questions I damn well should have known the answer to. It seemed impossible though really, I could have asked her about her personal history but it wouldn't have gotten far.

There was a pause as she looked at me not moving and squinted her eyes as if to say 'What?'.

"Anoun... I mean I wasn't born here" She explained with almost a sense of disdain or annoyance.

"Anoun... " I pondered, "right and what's it like there?".

"It's beautiful, mountains and valleys, mist and meadows," She said wrinkling her nose in suspicion of why I was asking "Well it was, until the human empires showed up.".

'Aaand that's why I was asking, to get you to open and tell me a thing or two.' I replied mentally to her. '...And then the fire nation attacked' I mused, only it wasn't that funny after the fact, there really was a fire nation and it or I guess they, really did attack.

"Aine, I uh, I don't know the fair folk well, I've never really met one in my travels and I don't really understand what's happening here. This place is awful. Can you explain to me what's going on?" I asked honestly and warily.

"Now we get to the meat of it don't we, That's what you wanted to ask me." She stated with a sense of triumph "But I don't understand, how could you be a traveler and not know?." She asked with a gentle doubt.

"It's hard to explain, and I'd just sound like a nutter." I replied with a note solemnly.

"Alright then, Brandon, the mysterious traveler who doesn't know a lick of world history, I'll tell ya what you ought to know but don't think I'm not curious as hell with what you're on about" She resigned to say. "It's quite simple really, in Tiernonoc, the Burguess and other human empires invaded us and occupied our lands, they came for our riches." There was a fire in her when she said 'riches'.

~O~

As she spoke I could feel my face wrinkle in a distaste for the tale.

~O~

"Well, then The Pact invaded, they eventually captured Anoun and the Fae that live there now are nearly better off dead, they flee, of course, they follow what we call sparrowhawks, fae leading other fae to safety. We hop a ship sent by the Burguish captains and merchants and they bring us here in trade for servitude until we've paid off our contracts. Nearly all of us live here in Carnivale Row."

~O~

She finished her tale and I felt myself sick with rage. There were two sides to me, a side that was gentle and loved kindness and hoped well for the world and the other side which wanted to clench my fist around the viscera pouring out of the fresh wounds of those who caused, the minor by comparison, injustices of our world and punch the responsible in the face until their head was but bone shards and pulp. That hatred for injustice could burn deep inside of me to the point my stomach felt as though it were presently developing ulcers.

I always wanted to do something about it but in the end, I always felt like I was one person, how could I stand up against the tyrants of our world who used their power to abuse the less fortunate. It felt hopeless, but here, could one man make a difference? Armed with knowledge from the age of information and what surely was an advanced education, could I make a difference here? I didn't know. It seemed unlikely but here there were no arts for me to pursue, no fulfillment to distract me, I was a beaten and broken man in a world danger, the stakes were higher and it made me feel as though perhaps it was worth the risk. Besides, if I didn't, it sounded like an entire, no, several sentient species were quite possibly facing extinction but was it as bad as she made it seem. I learned long ago to not take people's words at face value but why blatantly lie to me... I needed more information.

~O~

"Brandon..." She said quietly. I could feel my eyes were hard with a penetrating stare that could set fire to stone. I hadn't been angry like this since I was in my early twenties, age had come with a sense of calm and acceptance but I wasn't capable of accepting this. Not if it was true.

~O~

My quiet rage in the past had scared more than a small few, I didn't want to do that to her but it was hard not to. I think nothing makes us angrier than an injustice we feel powerless to stop. Its the impotency that makes us the angriest.

~O~

"It's wrong..." I said finally in a harsh tone.

"Are. you, alright?" She spoke again with hushed worry.

"No, and I fucking shouldn't be, you can't be human and hear some shit like that and be ok," I said through clenched teeth.

"I really..." She began to speak and I realized it was true, she really didn't understand, it didn't make sense to her why I was angry. Through the anger I peered into her and I could see it, she and her people were peaceful, peaceful to a fault, they had mourned and were sad and miserable about what had happened but never angry, not angry like this. Did they have it in them to be angry like this? or was it truly just a human trait?

"I don't understand" She replied after another moment. "You're so upset, did you have family in Anoun or Tiernonoc?"

~O~

The anger subsided but only in that like an ancient beast it rested its head below the surface for a time but there it was powerful as ever and far from dormant, it would return, it would have its day.

~O~

"It actually sickens me that you don't understand." I said ending my silence again, there was still a tremble to my voice.

"How poorly you have been treated that you don't even know what righteous, furious, compassion looks like. I am angry because what the fae have been put through is monstrously barbaric, the knowledge of such evils fucking offends my very sense of being. I am angry that I live in a world where shit like this has happened, that there were countless involved. Where were the fucking good guys when this shit happened!" I was yelling now and I took notice, I again quieted down.

~O~

I looked up to her, her eyes had tears in them, small simple ones that ran down her cheeks as she stared at me. She'd never seen a non-fae care so deeply.

~O~

"You mean it don't you?" She asked gently

"Yeah, I do... I really fucking do" I nodded back to her. "Look... I need a place to stay, whatever you need, I got it covered." I finally admitted.

She let out a half-laugh as her chest rocked back "Figured we were coming to that," she said expectantly, "I could use your help tomorrow. Keeping the tables clean, dishes all that. I'll let you stay down here. I can feed you and give you a place to stay for full days work but I can't pay you. " she said guiltily.

"That's fine, not even sure what I'd buy anyways," I replied in dry agreement.

~O~

Later that night after the chores were done, Aine had brought me some blankets and pillows. I was laying to sleep on a table of the restaurant while she retired to the upstairs and I thought to myself. I couldn't stop thinking. I found it hard to explain to people how I could feel so strongly about some things. I really was an outsider in my own world. I cared deeply and passionately about people I'd never met, I could feel their torment as if it were worse than happening to me. My empathy was an extreme, to me, the people around me often felt, at least by their actions, like cold stones, unfeeling automatons in some ways. Whether it was true or not I wasn't sure but I did feel certain that it was a rare few who loved people they never met, who wanted to help but just didn't know-how. I had recently begun to frequent Imgur and felt that perhaps those old notions were not so accurate, with things like Mr. Puckett and pizza angels, maybe I wasn't so alone after all. Perhaps they didn't know how to help either for the most part. 'The silent who care', I dubbed them in that moment.

~O~

'The future is uncertain... What can I do?'

~O~

I removed my phone from my pocket to view some Imgur, I needed the calm. As the app fired up I laughed a light chuckle and said aloud "There's no satellites here... This things basically a bri.." and then I was silenced as it loaded the front page, new posts of funny images and text arriving on the scream... "HOLY FUCK" I exclaimed...

~O~

I held in my hand the greatest weapon the world had ever known, in a mirror of its darkest hour. Knowledge in the face of the Axis of Evil.

~O~

One man could make a difference.

~O~

~O~

~O~

* * *

**End Day: 1**  
Current Funds: n/a  
Daily Income  
-Daily Income after daily expenses:  
Amount Spent:  
Payments-

Developing Skills-  
None


	3. Chapter 3: The Rise of Retribution

**Chapter 3 The Rise of Retribution**

* * *

~O~

~O~

~O~

By morning I had made up my mind, if what was said the night previous was true I would fight, but this was war and I had my fears, I was to play Commander-in-Chief with other peoples lives and I knew I would lose some, maybe all of them. I could only justify it to myself in that it seemed they were all facing death. I needed to understand The Burgue, The Fae and the technologies available to them. I needed to review my options, learn from history and decide on the best way to conduct this operation. It was a long road, especially for an outsider. At least my first step was clear, intel, I desperately needed intel.

~O~

In order to achieve this, I needed Aine's help and lots of it. I had spent a few hours researching the nazi ghettos of WW2. As I did so I discovered that, not surprisingly, Hitler had perpetrated several horrific acts long before it got to the ghettos but chief among them and most surprising was that he had constructed concentration camps which would later be death camps before the first Ghetto formed. The first camp had been built on March 9th, 1933 but the first ghetto was made in 1940. Seven years apart. Of course, at the time it seemed the camps were more for political prisoners and not Jewish death camps, not yet anyways. In the meantime he passed countless laws against the jews, he made it so they could not serve in a number of occupations, mostly white-collar stuff, fuck he even made it illegal for them to be musicians. Then his boy Goebbels made it difficult or impossible for them to pursue the 'arts' at all.

~O~

I had been reading an abbreviated timeline and so my information was limited, it was nothing to act on, just start wrapping my mind around possibly historical similarities to this current situation.

~O~

~O~

**AN:** Do not learn your WW2 history from my poorly researched paraphrased notes. It's well documented, go read it there. Do not expect clear accuracy from me, I'm not an expert, I'm gonna get shit wrong.

~O~

~O~

"How long did they have from when they put them in the ghettos to when they started to send people to the death camps?" I wondered with an urgent intensity. "How much time do I have.".

~O~

When I heard movement from upstairs I headed up to knock on the door. After a moment's wait, the door opened as Aine answered it in a closed robe. My heart fluttered a bit, a beautiful woman in a state of casual undress is sort of a welcoming thing, it implies she's not threatened by you, 'or that she was in a rush' I chuckled to myself in mental silence.

~O~

I felt a bit guilty taking interest and notice of her, for one thing, I always was terrible at estimating ages and she was a fae to boot, she could have been 20 something or ancient. Besides, like I'd been for years now, I was in no state to entertain a relationship. I felt that my financial situation left me with little to offer, still, if I didn't do something soon I was probably going to end up like my friend Joe. I was gaining weight, losing my youth and hanging on to my hair be dint of products alone... Which were gone now so that was going to become a prominent issue again in a few month's time.

~O~

"We're you planning on saying something." Aine asked with a giggle after a brief pause while I went through my world of thoughts.

"Shit... Uhh, yeah, I needed to ask you something, has the government passed any anti-fae laws?" I asked with a sense of urgent curiosity.

"Well arn't you an odd one, cheery thought first thing in the morn" She said in her accent. I liked her accent. Yeah I know, I'm probably older, out of shape, broke as fuck and there are more pressing matters but one can't control their emotions, only how they act on them. Which I intended not to do.

"No, not really, not until this whole locked in The Row non-sense. Well, we're not allowed to fly, caught flying there'd be penalties but it sure as shite wasn't being shot on sight til recently." She continued "Also, trying to pass as human 'll land you a year in prison if they don't deport ya.".

"Outstanding" I replied with frigid sarcasm "I really do hate these fucks..."

"You still don't look well, do I need to get down there an' cook you something?" She asked caringly.

"No, I'll figure something out if that's alright. I've just been up all night thinking about this. I come from far off lands Aine, I'm here by mistake and I don't know much about this place. I really need to learn more. I.. was gonna ask if I could get to the library, assuming you have one and it's free..."

She let out a sigh and spoke with reluctant regret "Now I said no funny business, things are tight here in The Row, I can't really afford to be taking in strays..." She paused while I waited, if I couldn't get out again till tonight the library would be closed and another of what were quite possibly a limited number of days would be gone. She tightened her lips back as she thought "I'll make a deal with ya, work hard this morning and this afternoon you can have off, you need to be back here before I fall asleep though or you'll be sleeping in the ally... You got me?" She said with all the sternness a soft heart could hold. I hated abandoning her to the labor but bigger things than arduous work hanged in the balance.

"Great, I like a good compromise." I replied quickly with happy satisfaction.

"You sure are in a twist about things, ya know if ya walked to the border they'd probably just let ya through being human and all. There's opportunity for your lot on the other side, you could be a servant of some noble or somethin with those cleanin experiences ya got" She explained with a hidden sadness.

"Have you ever heard of Captain Nemo?" I asked with hidden intent.

"I've not... why?" She replied curiously.

"He was a man born of the blood of one nation, the British but he was born in India, he was raised in India. He chose India. I arrived here. I've made my choice" I said in firm explanation showcasing my decision. "Besides, I can't go with what's easy, never could, had to go with what I felt was right".

"well then, you choose the wrong side I'm afraid but I'll have ya just the same." she said somberly which moved to a warm smile. "There is a bit of trouble, well two really... The library costs money... and it's outside of The Row. And I told ya before I really can't pay ya" She said with a sense of guilt.

"Fuck... Yeah, Shit... That is a jam..." I considered it for a time. We stood in the hall of her door each trying to think of a solution, I didn't like how it made her feel. "The papers? There must be a newspaper, I really need current events, long-standing history could help too. What about fae, how long-lived are you? Are you guys immortal?" I asked in a rush.

"What... Slow down then... Immor" She let out a hearty giggle "You are a stranger aren't ya. No, we're not immortal, we live a great deal longer than your kind do though... Immortal. Listen to you!" A deep and genuine smile rose across her face. "You're like the humans of old, thinking we're beings of pure magic and all that" She shook her head in disbelief.

"Right, well... you fucking are and you bloody well know it" I retorted, 'I watch a lot of Top Gear. The good one, you know the non-American one. so 'Bloody' feels natural to say sometimes, I reasoned to my imagined readers.

Aine just laughed at my response "Is that why you care so much? We're mythical beings to ya then? Almost sacred?" She asked as her amusement shifted to genuine and implicative, nearly accusational curiosity.

"Aine," I pronounced wrong, "you could be the buck-toothed fuck children of the swamp jungles for all I give a shit, I hate oppression, I really do fucking hate it." I spoke with a rising fervor "Of course the fact that your majestic beings certainly helps. Its been proven that we care more about things aesthetically pleasing then things that aren't so yeah it plays a factor."

"Majestic..." No humans ever called me that before" she said with a lingering hurt.

"Yeah well, that's because some humans are back birthed cunts who substitute reason with jealousy. They'll never be as wonderful as you with your bright colors or wings, it is every human's dream to experience flight. We truly do yearn for it.". I replied with harsh criticism.

"Well the other fae aren't so winged, why are they treated poorly then?" She asked to make a point.

"Psychology is a deep well of possibilities and while in life it is true that there is never one reason for a given thing this is never more true than it is in the mind." I explained.

"So odd, the things you say, you speak like a noble but yer fiery like a peasant, what was your station in your homelands" She question with deep curiosity.

"Oh, more like peasant, I'm homeless there too, Also dope on the mic" I nodded knowing she wouldn't get the in-joke, I'm stupid like that. Also, I am not 'dope' on the mic but fuck she didn't know that.

~O~

She let the befuddling comment pass with but a perplexed look of momentary confusion.

~O~

I turned the tone back to my immediate concerns "So, the papers, can you help me get to where they are printed, most papers keep copies. Also, I want to speak to the oldest fae you know of, I need an oral history but they need to be as unbiased as possible" I requested.

"The papers are easy enough, as for an old fae I'm sorry you're a bit on your own" she sighed knowing that would mean I was screwed "Perhaps I'll try and get ahold of some history books or ask around for an elder while I serve.".

"Thank you" I nodded to her.

"What is it yer looking for? Why are ya in such a rush for knowledge?" She asked of me

"This ghetto, its happened before, in places and times known to me, it doesn't end well. It doesn't end well at all. I need to look at how things got here, I need to understand the situation so I can reason a solution. Aine, if left unchecked, this situation threatens all of your lives. Ghettos are terrible places, food and work are limited, you're effectively sieged, disease will run rampant and then there's the external threat from The Burgue to be concerned with. I don't think it's historically accurate for the offending class of a ghetto to be content, its just another step in an ongoing chain of cruelty. I don't know how bad it is in Tiernanoc but humans can and do engage in genocide of their own subspecies for traits as silly as difference of opinion or appearance. I shudder to think what they'd be willing to do to non-humans."

After my explanation she stood in the doorway in silence, her face had gone completely pale beyond its ivory complexion. She breathed heavy and slow in fear "How sure you... I mean it doesn't have to..."

"Aine," I said wrong again "I come from a very learned society, one thing that is certain is that history repeats itself, this situation is really bad, but no-its not over. With information, I can match it to similar circumstances and look to see how they got out of it or how it went completely to shit and avoid the mistakes. I am armed with knowledge but I need more.". I said with a certain grim tone.

"I know my species, I know how bad we can get but I also know that the human spirit is a complex thing, there are ways to fight this. Help me" I concluded.

~O~

Aine looked so scared, the humor of what existed before in our chat was gone now like the fading sun well beneath the oppressive dusk of night. She had probably at one point reasoned that this could get better and in her heart, she still thought that was possible but such certain darkness being expressed by one who seemed to know better sent a chill of gripping terror through her.

~O~

"If it's as bad as all that what can we do?" She questioned dejectedly, "What can you do?".

"I don't know yet, but probably more than most here. I need this information though, I need to know how it got here, the whole history, dates would be the most helpful. If I can truly understand the situation I can begin to plan how to defeat it" I said with hopeful certainty.

She nodded slowly, she understood now my urgency "Alright then, perhaps you should take the day off, go track down your information. I have a few friends I will ask, I'll get you what you need. Somehow" there was an air of affirmation to her words.

"Let's hope I'm wrong" I asserted with a broken half-smile. She was frightened, I wanted to reassure her, I loved how it felt to hug a girl and feel that sensation of acceptance, I knew it could reassure her if done right but I didn't know how to broach it. I grabbed her hand instead "We can do this" I said holding it firmly.

~O~

~O~

~O~

As I stepped out in the chilled early winter morning I reconsidered my course of action, in my heart I knew why but I had to reflect and think about it, to quantify my chosen course and my motivations. Was I just jumping into yet another problem without really thinking it through? Over my life, I'd started plenty of things and then never finished them. It was my great shame. Usually artistic endeavors.

~O~

"I'm here and it doesn't seem quite real, faeries and nazis in some sort of fantasy world" I reasoned to myself. At that moment I decided to quash the Nazi comparisons, the truth is I really didn't know what the fuck was going on and heading out with preconceived notions was a recipe for disaster.

"I could die." I considered it as the words came out aloud. I knew from a long history that at least, I, never knew myself until I was in the moment. At my core, I held strong beliefs and I was willing to fight for some of them, the ones I felt were unquestionably just. My religion, my politics, I could never enter bloodshed for these things unless it was to protect their very existence, such as religious persecution but that's back to the core beliefs that I would kill for. I believe that every sentient being has certain an alienable rights, that to infringe those rights, at least at a strong enough level, is acceptable cause to kill.

'Of course, I may not even have to do any of that. Maybe there's another way. I really do need answers. I haven't made any real moves yet, I'm just learning' I told myself. That being as it was I needed to ask myself some very important questions. I need to know myself, this close to the very real events that could bring these questions to reality I could feel them out better than if I were, say; at home in comfort.

'#1, am I willing to die? Are these people worth my life?'. Who was I kidding, my existence was steaming pile of shit, the best I was looking forward to was finally having enough to buy a small house in the next year or so. I was single, alienated from most of my family or otherwise didn't like them. I even often felt as though as long as I didn't know the person, I would be willing to trade my life for their's.

It was funny, but you see when it comes to people I'm so pessimistic I assumed that if I knew that person I would know they were total shit and I'd never trade my life for that but if I didn't know them I imagined them to be good people, who would make the most of the sacrifice.

I really did always think in such fucked extremes, I spend a lot of my nights thinking up how I would escape, revenge myself on and then recover from being imprisoned by sadistic weirdos or other wholly unrealistic situations.

From the stress of my life and thoughts, like these, plus never being able to forgive myself for past embarrassments I had developed severe audible twitches. I'd scream uncontrollably for a short second before I took hold or mutter something like 'Kill them all' under my breath.

It was embarrassing and not really how I thought. A while ago I used to think that I could let go of my past if I were the sole person alive on the planet. No-one-else-to-remember sort of thing. Eventually, however, the mental exercise became more real and I didn't just imagine an empty world or faceless baddies who I defeated to be free of them. My brain made it more realistic and left me with images of families piled in bloody heaps.

The once calming escape took a much darker turn that sickened me. I'm actually, not really a violent person, I've been in a handful of fights in high school and nothing since. I prefer peace, but in general, I do usually feel alone and rejected by the world. I can blend, but only for a time. Being in an empty world seemed better than one populated by people who I felt threatened by.

As I said before though, my opinions on that had long since started to change and now my brain just chucked me images of good people that I was guilty of having killed and had me muttering shit like 'Kill them all'. Damn thing had a mind of it's own, in response to shit like this I came to name my brain Hitler. I amused myself with little jokes like that.

I could be here telling you what the inside of my head looks like till the end of time but I'm just focusing on the bad stuff at the moment. I'm a real human, I think we have all thought about killing the shit fuck out of someone or doing something fucked. I think it's a calming exercise that helps us mentally wrestle control of a situation we likely have no control over. The difference is doing it, really honestly wanting to do it and then doing it or it just being a lovely little thought that has no real substance. My thoughts are infinitely more the latter. When I'm being reasonable I usually actually don't know how to proceed. I'm not a fan of most judicial responses such as suing or calling the cops, I'm not interested in degrading myself to passive-aggressive bullshit and I find that confrontation only makes the situation worse for me.

I had strayed far from my original thought.

Either because I felt my life had little value, especially when weighed against the many or because I felt strongly in my heart about what was right and that if it were dire enough than yes I would fight and if need be die to make things better. Besides, the prospect of laying in a muddy cold field with my guts strewn out was infinitely more comforting than living with knowing I, above all else, could have best saved the people and cowardly chose my own life over theirs. I knew I couldn't live with that.

'So then, question #2' I proceeded with the self-reflection as I walked down the streets in search of the newspaper house Aine had directed me to. 'Was this the right situation to get involved, was the situation bad enough that I should actually call for guerilla warfare and begin a process that would claim countless lives on both sides.'. This was the heaviest of my questions and one I could not answer until I knew more about the circumstances.

As I headed down 'The Row' I passed a house of faerie girls, their brightly colored hair and wings spread out, they stood upon the 2nd-floor balcony and called down to those below. They were the illustrious women of the night. I stopped in fascination. I'd never met women like this before and while I would never buy their services, my heart went out to them. I didn't imagine that most women choose that line of work except by lack of option but these ones seemed so happy despite the turmoil. It was a welcomed sight to see them smile, a blue-haired one even waved at me, she gave a wink and blew a kiss.

'Well that was flattering as hell', I could count on one thumb the amount of times a woman showed me any direct signs of interest. It's that 6th sense I mentioned earlier, in my younger days, I now realized, I was quite attractive. Hell even now in the face I wasn't that bad, but my dress and something deeper within, I believe warned away the basic types. It told them that I was unusual or possibly dangerous.

Funny how people reacted to me like that yet deep in my heart I usually cared for them. In a less stalker more casual way I tend to at least at some level love the people I see, I imagine their struggles and wish to help them. It's funny then that they tend to look upon me with hidden fear and rejection or now that I gained weight, with an air of unimpress.

I could have stood below her showing me that genuine interest until the sun grew cold and entered the endless night but I wanted to help her instead. I waved back to her, my cheeks must have been beat red 'why the fuck don't we have cute faeiry girls back home' I lamented.

~O~

"Oh you don't want my broke ass!" I waved to her, I'd given up on the accent.

"Oh come now sailor, you look too sober to have drank it all" She played back at me.

"Hah!, I only swear like one, I truly don't have a coin, but you girls hang in there!" I shouted back, I loved to tell people encouraging things, to help them in what little ways I could.

"Shame, you're missing a hell of a time!" She called back to me teasing.

"I damn well know that don't I, I'm broke not stupid!" I shouted up to her merrily. If I did have the coin, I would have paid her, not for sex though, I had always wanted to sit down with a woman like that, talk to them, get to know them. I wondered if I wouldn't find gold inside their souls.

"If you're not stupid then how come broke!" She was a playful thing to be sure.

"I kinda lied about not being stupid, I'm a regular fuck up! Now chase someone who can pay you" I joked back up to her. From beside me, I heard a man with a gruff voice, one that showed age "Well I can pay her.". He was wearing a grey coat gentleman's coat with a gold chained pocket watch, he looked better off than not and was briskly walking to the door. I grew cold as he brushed passed and I stared at the old bastard, I knew she needed dregs of society like him to survive but that didn't mean I had to like him.

"Fucking cock sucker" I muttered under my breath and headed on. The idea that she had to let that lecherous pig touch her so that she could eat and be warm enraged me. A moment passed and I thought about stabbing the fuck out of his ass in the alley once he was done and giving her the money. It was a nice but albeit unrealistic thought. Actually, I kinda liked the idea of stabbing his eyes out better. I needed to calm down.

~O~

See this is what I'm talking about, it's nice to imagine doing some violent shit but I imagine myself in the actual moment and I have no stomach for it at all. I don't really want to kill or harm this guy, I just hate him and imagining fucking his shit up calms me but in as much as that it stays imagined.

~O~

~O~

~O~

At last, I had reached the newspapers HQ. It was a single-story brickwork building, steam, like most, billowed from the top. I pulled my coat tight around me in the cold breeze and headed to the back. As a trucker, I enter the backs of facilities all the time, its natural and its where you meet the more human, blue-collar individuals, the desk always has that awkward, seemingly about to go insane disposition and their so apt to say 'no' but the guys in the back don't give a shit and are also proud of their work.

~O~

~O~

(Difficulty of them letting a stranger look at old papers. 1d40, out of 100, Result: 26)

(roll result: Faun, Female, age 56 (1d40+15)

~O~

~O~

I walked in the back door and stood there taking a quick look around.

~O~

A saw an older satyr working over at a table, several younger males worked about but she seemed like the one to approach. As I neared her I said, "um, excuse me miss?"

~O~

~O~

**AN:** I do not know they're are called fauns and I know them better as satyrs, so until I learn, I'm fucking it up and calling them satyrs.

~O~

~O~

This is an important place to pause and explain a little more about myself. First, I called her 'miss' this is important because it implies that she's young, of course, it directly means that she's unmarried. In the current times, it could be unfavorable however... Fuck.

Anyways, I have many masks that I wear and the default one is really odd, it has its ups and downs. I seem nieve and childlike to people, I know, it's weird, your up here in my head and you don't see it but I really do seem that way and this causes people to be helpful towards me but it also causes them to think little of me. Like 'here's a grown-ass man who can't grow up' well fuck you, I actually don't want to, because there is a huge difference between 'grown-up' and 'mature'.

~O~

Anyways, let me rip this little curtain down here for a moment and suggest that from my experiences this would add at least a +10 to my roll earlier so a 36/100 instead of 26 or roughly a slightly better than 1/3rd chance. Of course I don't roll it. From here I see if I can logically maneuver the conversation in such a way that I can get what I want. I also do some storytelling for table-top.

Right, curtain back-up.

~O~

The satyr turned and faced me with a bit of shock and looked me up and down "And just who are you then?" She asked abruptly "And what are you doing back here"

"Well, to be honest, I came back to find the people who actually know a thing or two about what's going on. My name is Brandon (last name)" I held my hand out to her. There was a suspicious pause but with some acknowledgment to the gesture of mutual respect she took my hand. "I am working on a thesis about the history of the fae and The Burgue" I explained

"A thesis?" she asked with uncertainty

"It's like a book that won't be published, it's not for money its a personal project, out of passion. I'm a stranger to these lands, I'm sure my accent gave me away but my thesis is to chronicle how and where it exactly all went wrong. How did the Burguess people come to be so horribly in the wrong with their treatment of fae" It was a gamble to speak for so long, its easier to speak a little and gauge their reactions, let them reply but I figured a 'fuck you' memoir to The Burguish would please any fae historian.

She took it in for a moment considering it but my words did not seem to displease her "Alright, then what exactly are you doing here?" She asked after a moment.

"Well, I need accurate, trustworthy information, your paper comes highly recommended" Flattery goes a long way but you have to know how to use it.

"Does it now, and who recommended it then?" No surprise, she wasn't an idiot, I liked her for that. Reminded me of my high school art teacher, woman took literally zero shit.

"Aine.. a young faerie, she runs the restaurant down the way" I replied. I don't like telling real lies, thick nasty things that make me feel sick but a flex on the truth for the right cause never cost me much sleep.

"Alright, then what can I do for you"

My lips pulled back in an expression that suggested I knew that what I was about to ask for was a tall order. "Well, I was hoping you might keep archives of your paper here. I know their value, and I'd never harm them or allow harm to come to them, just look at my hands" I said as I raised them "You can see I'm the gentle sort"

"Oh no, I don't know about that. We've got one of each paper, just the one" She explained uncomfortably.

"I really will take care of them, knowledge like what I seek could help lighten fae suffering, hell if such a thesis were to be printed it could do a great deal to change people's opinions. If you want it, I'll give you the book to print, exclusive rights and I'll take only minimal royalties."

She thought on it for a time. "Alright... I'll take you back there, you show me how you handle a paper and we'll see" She said sternly.

I followed her to the back, we entered a rectangular room with a metal filing system in silence and she gestured to one of the cabinets. "Go on, take out yesterday's paper." She said urging me on.

I smiled at her "Oh no, I'm not nearly arrogant enough to think that I should know how to handle such a thing. I'll learn how to do it properly from you"

"Think your clever don't ya." She said with a quick exhaled laugh.

"Until life reminds me that I'm not, yeah, I kinda do" I retorted with honest amusement.

She showed me how to remove one and leaf through it and then watched as I repeated the motion. She then taught me how to put it back.

"Quite a project you've got going on, but we close at 7, you can come back tomorra if ya need and if this room looks just as it does now when you're done. Understood"

"Yes ma'am, Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me." I said sincerely.

"Alright, back to work for me." She said in an ending note before leaving, closing the door behind her.

The moment she was gone I set to the task of grabbing the oldest of the papers and setting it out on the table. After reviewing the date I was shocked at the year on the paper '566', I stared in disbelief. I moved to yesterday's paper and peered in just to check the date and I heard myself audibly say "What The Fuck!" the current year was 678.

"How the Fuck could they have 1800's tech in 678?" I said aloud again. "They should be using swords and shit, well then what the actual fuck does their BC look like?" I adamantly questioned.

I shook my head, different world, very different things to happen here. I took it into consideration and left it alone for now. 'What else was there for it anyways.'.

I then returned to the oldest paper, I stood up on a chair over the large sheet of paper. I checked everywhere, there were no windows in the room. 'Older times I guess'. I removed my smartphone, a Galaxy S8, I think it was. I wasn't super savy with them in some ways. I then took a flashless photo of the front page.

Now you may think that would be fruitless but in truth, much of our trucking involves taking pictures of bills of lading and texting them about. They make clear and perfect images. Hell original scanners weren't much different, except the phone has better quality, ironically.

I set to task with taking pictures of them all, one after the next. Quickly in however, I discovered the task to be daunting as hell. I started skipping around looking for events to do with Tiernonoc. I worked tirelessly. I stopped only to eat the lunch Aine had packed for me, she was a kind soul to say the least of her quality.

After 4 hours and nearing mid-day I had taken countless images but as I entered the more recent papers certain headlines really caught my eye.

I had learned much just skimming them. Aine was right, the humans had invaded Tiernanoc but they used flattering words like 'expedition' and 'explorers' but 10 military class battleships don't fucking 'explore' anything.

The situation however, was more complicated than our simple chat could have covered. The Burguess and the Fae had no more than a few decades ago, enjoyed each other's company. The fae had been, in those times, creatures of splendor and fancy.

It didn't quite make sense to me because the Burgue had been invaders but there must have been something deeper between the lines that made this pleasant relation possible. I learned that Carnivale Row had once been called Gloamingside but the name had changed to Carnivale Row at some point. The reason I yet didn't know.

The most recent events caught me the most rivited, A chancellor's assassination by a puck or apparently what they call a faun, I'd ask Aine for clarification later. His son succeeding him in the parliament. Ah, where, as Richard Hammond puts it; where they keep their idiots. The wife's disappearance.

I had reached the meat of the issue, this is why the Ghetto was in place. Some dumb fuck murdered the head honcho. What was worse, the dude was a member of the Commonwealth Party. The Fucking Fae Supporting Fucking Commonwealth party... What a bunch of dumb asses!

I swear to god, this is probably the kind of fuck that would be like; 'Catcher in the Rye made me do

it.'.

All of this had happened a week ago and while it was the most relevant information to the problem I wanted to solve something much greater had caught my eye. A series of murders attributed to what was called: a Darkasher and it was made by magic.

~O~

~O~

FUCKING MAGIC.

~O~

~O~

~O~

**AN:**

Guys... I fucked up. I really fucked up. So this was supposed to be a story about military tactics in the backdrop of Carnivale Row. It would engage me to research in our world and write in their's. Well, two things I fucked up.

1\. and this will be covered in more detail in later chapters but the Burge are not quite as villainous as I thought they were. I jumped on the Carnivale Row wiki and they had details there that did not make it to the show. Details that could have only been placed by the creators. Shit like it being called Gloamingside etc...

This has created a tactical issue. You see, I not only cannot bring the actual situation to guerilla warfare without first exhausting all the peaceful options but I'd be evil to try, also the situation is decidedly closer to the peaceful resolution end than it is to civil uprising.

So there goes my entire military strategy in The Burge, which was like my favorite part. Now its gotta be done with fucking politics... Gahhh I hate politics, just the same, after heavy consideration, I decided to proceed with the story as a political challenge. Warfare still has a future in this story but its a ways off.

~O~

~O~

Yeah, all this went to pot when I stopped daydreaming the strategies and started doing actual research. While it is that I hate the fucker even Che' said: "used by the side which is supported by a majority but which possesses a much smaller number of arms for use in defense against oppression"

Also, his book which I was digging into made plenty of points about public support and the primary objective of guerilla warfare does seem to be public support. I was gonna and probably still will, research into also the Nazi Ghetto uprisings as their tactical situation would be very similar to my own.

Anyways, all of this will be coming out in detail over the next several chapters.

2\. I had considered the Dark Fae Magic but I imagined putting some fae to task with learning and eventually in the later game perhaps having a small Darkasher unit. How the fuck it never occurred to me I don't know but if I was really in this situation and it became clear that magic was real I would go after it with an unprecedented diligence. Who the fuck wouldn't?

What's worse is I believe I would have a good basis for picking up the art quickly for the following reasons:

1\. I frequently research the occult in a good deal of detail, its usually just dabbling here and there but in this, I would dig full in. I mostly research it for curiosity, fascination, and story research.

2\. I don't read stories much but I love non-fiction. I really do enjoy learning.

3\. You learn quickly what you love or are enthusiastic about. Any muggle in our world would realistically be like 2-4 years ahead in magical learning if they went to Hogwarts because to them it's not school, its splendor.

I can't reasonably continue this story and not in story pursue the fuck out of magic. Gaining superpowers was never part of the plan but honestly, it does seem like a terribly guilty pleasure. I thought about changing The Burgue to be the cunts I thought they were but it just felt wrong. Then it wasn't anything but just daydreaming in some fantasy world with no substance.

It is frustrating though. I really, really wanted to get into the military strategy of taking control of The Burgue. By the way, the task is actually impossible even if they were the badie bad badguys. Here's why. In war you need objectives, now say I am a god-like tactician, an unstoppable force of calculated death. Great, I never lose a battle. What are my win conditions?

How do I take control of a populace that greatly outnumbers me? My end goal was to depose the oppressive government and make peace with the populace. The fae supporting Commonwealth party in this world had the majority until some dumb fuck stabbed their leader.

The moment I began warfare any remaining support in the party or populace would be gone. We'd be the evil insurgents. I'd never put fae back in a favorable light in the public eye after the first bomb went off. (note military and strategic targets, not citizenry).

Also, all they have to do to win is march the armed forces across the bridges (3) and death squad through The Row. All it takes for them to accomplish that is public support. Now I could steal the guns, arm the fae, blow the bridges and then use the sewers to continue the war. Sewers were actually how I planned on doing all of that in the first place.

And this brings me to the other part that kinda ruins it, the damn sewer leads, as best as I can tell, from Carnivale Row all the way to Balefire Hall. I could just march across and capture the Chancellor, holding him hostage, I could well take a number of the political leaders this way, which of course is a boring win.

Oh and here's why I think the sewer crosses the river. Piety left from Balefire Hall to attack Philo, Philo left from the dark magic shop to the sewers to find the Darkasher host.

At the time Piety was suspected of murder, I seriously doubt she hopped her coach and took a trip across to The Row, also her lab was in the sewer where she'd manage to somehow procure dead fae to make her darkasher from. I'm guessing the same mercs who kidnapped her son. Point is, her lab I believe, she would keep close to home so she didn't have to be seen coming and going from The Row. Besides, those were her books down there, she's not gonna let those get far from sight.

Finally, my last deviance from the original plan is that I am single in a world of winged, chipper, fantasy girls. I'm only human, I'd be drooling over one of these girls if I hadn't met my fiance. Who by the way is very comfortable with me writing this tale. We have a strong healthy relationship.

As a final note, this chapter dug deep into some of my psyche, look, guys, its a well in there. There is so much more than I could ever explain. Also, not all of it is true, some used to be true and some is assumed based on me not having been in this relationship for the past 8 years. I am quite mentally well, I am a person in some ways of odd extremes but also of reason and balance. The human mind is too complex to truly fathom.

Also, my fiance and I do have a place to stay, its not our own but it's ok we are usually living in our truck. Also, we are probably less than a year from buying a house outright. We are fine, all is well.


	4. Chapter 4: To Quest for the Fantastic

**Chapter 4: To quest for the fantastic**

* * *

Splendor. Real splendor, just might exist in this world. My whole life I felt my world was drab, grey and boring yet somehow awful but here in this world there were faeries and fauns and centaurs and trow but above all else, it just might, very realistically have magic. Who knows what one could accomplish with such things. I was gripped by a deep fascination to find it if it did exist. I'd had dreams of being a wizard, like close your eyes and sleep actual dreams. I didn't believe in much fantastic in my world but here it seemed anything was possible. I felt so alive, so excited.

~O~

"Time to catch me an owl because I just got my fucking acceptance letter" I stated aloud as I hustled briskly down the bustling streets of The Row to Aine's pub.

~O~

The papers talked about the creature as rumor but depicted this horrifying Lovecraftian fuck. They failed to cover any additional details beyond that it was supposedly something 'of the old ways' That dark fae magic could bring such a thing about.

~O~

~O~

~O~

The back door to Aine's pub burst open with excitement which gave me an immediate pause of embarrassment.

~O~

"Sorry" I whispered "Sorry, Sorray" I continued to whisper in a Britsh accent quoting the movie Van Helsing. Aine had looked up from her table to the back, where her kitchen lie. She held a look of disgusted confusion as she shook her head at me. A pause later and she was to the back.

"What?! I have a business to run, you can't just come smashing in here clambering around making all that fuss." She hushed at me in low tones.

"Yeah, sorry, I really am... I got really good shit" I justified in a rapid whisper.

A look of relief came upon her as she was reminded of our conversation this morning "and?!" she asked with excitement.

I turned and headed towards the stairs through the kitchen "and come with me" I said as I headed up to her apartment.

"I really can't..." She tried to clarify but I pushed on. We got upstairs and I opened the door to her room. I'm a nosy sort and wanted to look around but all of this was much more important so I came in and turned back to her not getting a good view of the room, brighter tones, reds here and there and probably some hardwood.

I held a finger up in front of me "Great news, the problem is very recent, you knew that but I didn't and it changes everything, I have plans in my head on how to proceed with that, but I found something else out and I really, really want to go and look into it."

She nodded as I told her the 'good news' with a sense of hope and formed her hands into closed fists, one over the other in front of her chest. "What? What did you find out?" She asked still whispering.

I couldn't help but smile, I almost started to laugh from the delight of it all "Your world has magic!". I paused... 'Fuck... I just said that'.

~O~

~O~

**AN:** I made myself say it because that's how I wrote the sentence in my head several times, clearly I would have fucked up here.

~O~

~O~

"Yes, it...My...world?..." She considered it for a moment. "What do ya mean my world? Just where are you from?" She asked in deep implicit curiosity.

"Aine," I said killing my momentum and taken on a serious air. "Tonight. tonight, when you are not rushed for time I will tell you everything, but I really need to know somethings." I continued. "There's some kind of fae magic, I desperately want to know more about it, where could I go to research it or learn more." I explained with understated passion.

"Why do you want to know?" She questioned and then blinked looking down to consider "I don't know much about it, there are two I know of here in The Row you could speak to, but one died recently. The other is Mima Sawsaan, she could help you look into our old ways. Why though?" She asked in concern.

"Because, it is for me something truly wonderful, the concept or possibility of something beyond science. It is all that I have ever known to be certain and I have found dismal to the heart that wonders beyond it don't really exist, at least not ones we can touch and see" I justified heartily.

~O~

After an unspoken response of understanding, she explained to me where I could find Mima. I followed her quickly back downstairs and this time I followed her out onto the restaurant floor.

Suddenly I was a waiter, I had never done the job before and I found operating in a public capacity to be very intimidating, near panic-inducing but like many things before, I suddenly picked it up, I acted as if I knew what to do based on what I had seen in the past and I did it well.

~O~

I moved table to table pointing at empty glasses "Refill?" I asked, if they nodded I took it to the back. Of course, the first time after they nodded I plainly asked "What was it?" to which I got a 1000 yard stare as if the question was in another language.

~O~

"Right" I replied and took the glass to the back to fill it with whatever alcohol she fed these guys. I don't drink so I don't know what the fuck it was, an Indian pale rum for all I care. Yes, I know what I did there.

~O~

Once the glasses had been filled I set to catch up on the dishes. Aine smiled to me at various times, she had at no point asked me to return to work and it made her happy for the help. She'd fallen behind for our brief chat and I intended to help her catch up and not harm her business.

I stuck around for an hour or so helping wait tables, wash dishes and clean as needed until the lunch rush was over. When it was slowing down again I met Aine in the kitchen. "You need me any more?" I asked.

~O~

"No, nows fine" she replied with a smile. The small exchange reminded me of the dialogue between me and Preston, a former boss I helped do Food Movers for, we picked up food for the soup kitchen at my old church. It was never clear when we were done and I could piss off, so when it seemed I was good, I always came to him and asked if he needed me, the response was often this way.

~O~

Good guy Preston, fucker did sell us out to vipers though. I guess I did too.

~O~

~O~

~O~

Following Aine's directions I found myself in a church-like market place, it was hard to explain but in small ways, it reminded me of the church bake sale, rummage sale or any other bazaar they tended to put on, only this one was in a place of old stone, not a 70-year-old basement.

The buildings were tall for stone and made of a pale yellow rock. Archways and pillars were common features of the architecture and metal support structures rose from the sides to girders which held train tracks above us.

Down from there I passed through a stone doorway with a simple wooden door to a sort of courtyard, a fountain or shrine rested against a wall and I saw a faerie in a golden dress. Her hair was dark black and in braids, bones, and beads woven through it. She had very dark brown skin. Her make-up was interesting to me, blue non-complimentary tones, they stood out instead of blended in. From there she got very Star Wars, a white dab just above her chin and raised marks like from healed intentional cuts in a pattern on her cheeks. She stole Guinan's hat though, she was gonna start a straight nerd war with all this crossing of genre's.

I had to pause a moment because the conversation I was about to engage in, was entirely unique for me. I was about to speak to a woman who was black and there would be absolutely no chance that I knew of, of racial tensions.

I hated the whole term black and white anyways, I mean its not a fucking country, I didn't come from whiterica and there's no Blackrica. By tones I'm Ivory and 'black' actually gets divided into Medium Brown, Dark Brown and Very Dark Brown. I had hang-ups about the whole racial tension thing. Mostly in that they stem from pure, intentional fucking ignorance and in this moment, none of that existed.

No instead we had speciel tensions, but you know what, they were an alien concept to me, they actually didn't affect my perceptions or reactions in any way. I fucking loved that, now if only I could ignore the tension I felt when speaking to 'black' people. In reality, they were fucking chill, I was the issue, I always felt like I was gonna say some shit that'd somehow be offensive.

I laughed at the total irony of the conversation and focused on the moment at hand. I've said it before, we can't change how we feel, only how we act. So somewhere upstairs, despite her having none of the culture that made the tensions possible, I was worried that there were some. See why I call my brain 'Hitler'.

~O~

~O~

**AN:** I'm happy to discuss any misunderstanding about the race thing in the comments, character me just wouldn't have tangented anymore, even with his imagined audience, which by the way I often imagine and play to.

Also, 'Speciel' is not a real word but I have constant need of it and there is no replacement. Its etymology makes sense, someone petition Merriam and Websters to make this shit legit. Besides, when the silicone-based cyborg men of Peteria Senon 8 arrive we're gonna fucking need it.

~O~

~O~

"Hello," I said to her semi-chipperly "That hat is awesome by the way" Fuck yeah I showed off my America.

"Hello, and thank... Awesome?" She paused to wonder.

"It's a word that implies that I find it to be aesthetically pleasing, that I like it and think it looks good on you. Matches the dress too and it's unique." I replied with a friendly smile.

~O~

See this is where I win people. I didn't compliment her to get what I want, I did it because, as a guy who wears a beret, I like weird hats, I'm genuine and I sound it in my words. I do want something and she knows that, why else am I talking to her but it's not nagging her and I'll be pleasant whether she gives it to me or not. This sense is why people want to help me, teach me things. I use it all the time, but it's also why the dick heads in the world assume I'm pathetic or can be walked on. They mistake the genuine demeanor and lack of grumpy assholery for being weak. Sometimes being underestimated can help but mostly it leaves me wishing that some unlikable cunts didn't exist.

~O~

~O~

(chance of her directing me towards what she considered 'unholy matters'

Factors:

-told Philo fairly easily

-Philo was trusted and investigating a Darkasher

-She knew he was coming, she like the haruspex sees the future.

Chance of her knowing me well, that I would be coming? Pretty much guaranteed. 1/100 she doesn't Result: 52, she knows.

How much does she know? 1d100, higher equals more knowledge Result: 39, guess I'll play it out and see what happens.)

~O~

~O~

"I appreciate your kind words, I have been expecting you. I know why you've come, and of where the knowledge you seek rests. I will guide you to it but it may not be all you hope to find" She said in knowing cold words that chilled my very core. There was a time when such undue knowledge being presented would have sent me into a paranoic fit but in recent years I had become more comfortable with some, preferably decent people to know my struggles. To see inside and say, despite your faults, you still have value.

~O~

It was this sentiment to her words that spared me the unbearable fear. I had for the first time seen real magic. I often pondered the ways of charlatans and called bullshit on more than a few tricks feigning to be real but I could not see a way for her to know what I was after or how she could have cold read me so accurately.

~O~

"How..." I finally started to utter out on chilled breath, steam rising from my words "How did you...".

"Your mind faulters to darkness so you seek them out but there are two sides to everything, I am the other. But we know your choice."

I contemplated her words, a true look at the darkness in my soul from an outsider was harrowing. "Is there a cost?" I asked in frigid words.

"There is always a cost" She replied wisely.

"Yes but beyond time and effort, is there a cost on the soul?" I asked pressing the question.

"You think in ways of The Martyr, the ways of this are different" She answered quickly. "But even if not of your soul, there is a cost, already you walk away from your chosen task to pursue this. How much time will you trade from it"

I knew what she meant, she was pointing out that I had today off to help Aine and the other fae, to end the ghetto and restore peace and now just 6 hours into it I was distracted by magic. "I want this," I said with sadness. "Is it wrong to want something back from my time here?".

"It is not wrong to want for one's self, we all have needs" She replied.

"What will I become. What is it called?" I asked, starting anew.

"It is called a Haruspex," she explained as she handed me a small skeleton key. "though you will be lacking the truth of it, you will be a practitioner. A ritual must be performed to be a true Haruspex and that ritual for you is impossible" She said knowing I would ask.

~O~

I looked down at the key she'd given me, There was an address on a small paper with it.

~O~

"And wh..."

She cut me off abruptly cutting to the core of the uncomfortable matter for her "You must kill the old haruspex.".

I paused shocked at the darkness of the action. I had toyed with witchcraft in the past but in time I found the belief that all power was either from God or the devil and so witchcraft was little more than appeasing demons to get results, the cost of certain spells had fit in line with that assessment as well. All manners of flight required murdering babies. When I had discovered that, witchcraft made more sense to me, we cannot barter our souls, they cannot be traded but we can corrupt them and in trade, demons will pay us temporary favors.

I wasn't certain it was true, I hoped not, my closest aunt was a high priestess in witchcraft and so for her, I hoped I was wrong but I found the risk not worth the rewards.

I did, however, want a power like magic, based in the ways of the universe, neutral to good and evil. This transference of power through murder, however, gave me great pause and made me understand why she would help me yet warn me that it may not be what I wanted. between the two arts however, she knew which I would prefer and thus far she knew a great deal more than I on the matter and so I would follow her suggestion.

"Then I could never be a Haruspex." I said after a long pause.

"No, but you still can learn and practice." She nodded, the next response in the grim conversation.

"What is the difference?" I asked her as an icy breeze slid by.

"You will not see as a haruspex, you will not get glimpses of what's to come" She answered but then as if to bring it to a close she continued "What you seek lies in the home of the Aoife Tsigani, take her tomes to borrow, for her replacement is abroad but the books belong to her and beyond that, the fae, you will keep them safe for the time being." .

~O~

She then turned and left the small courtyard, leaving me to think upon her words. There I stood in silence for what must have been an hour. So many questions unanswered, so much to wonder. I did, however, know where to go for the tomes.

~O~

~O~

**AN:**

My fiance and I discussed this scene at length, as to whether she would help me or not, In the end, her knowledge of me worked in my favor. I would certainly return the books when the time came, though I would make copies. To steal is really beyond me, especially in this capacity and the books would be sitting in the old shop. A week has gone by and they were protected only out of fear of superstition and disinterest. Greater things were afoot and herbs and the like were useless to those with no interest in being a practitioner. The marketability of the shop came exclusively from the woman inside, the items were near useless.

Still many problems lie ahead with learning magic and they will be made clear soon.

~O~

~O~

~O~

From the street, I entered a dead-end bazaar made of buildings and shops. A small fountain rested on the wall beside me.

"Holy fuck, running water? When the hell was that invented" I said aloud to myself. I used to think aloud all the time but 'It'S NoT SoSiAlLy AcCePtAbLe.' I mocked.

I pulled out my phone and a quick search:

reddiplumbingwichita blog/plumbing/the-history-of-plumbing

revealed that indoor plumbing and in fact toilets existed by the 1800's, which I sorta presumed this was close to. "Fuck, so I pissed in the ally like an animal last night... Great" I muttered annoyed under my breath. Fuck society's rules. Well, except the 'pissing in public' ones.

~O~

The street ended at a place with tall pillars supporting an upper floor. Below was cut into the main entrance of the apothecary shop. I approached down the quieted streets as the shadow of night set in above. Using the key I opened the door to enter a shop of many odors, strong and pleasing but below them yet presently detectable was the smell of carrion.

When they said the other mystic had died I didn't know it was in her own shop. It smelled bad and made me wonder just how she had died. Further research into the papers later would reveal she had also been killed by the Darkasher which begged only more questions I would investigate later.

Around her darkened shop there sat items and herbs and the like on shelves, supplies of all nature were about. It reminded me of the mystic shops back home. It then dawned on me I would need more than books, I needed these supplies to learn.

'That is why she gave me the key' I thought. Once I learned a person could actually see the future I just assumed them omniscient, it was the safer bet for a paranoid nutter like me.

Behind the counter was a bookshelf with the tomes I suspected I would need, and though I wanted to run over and leaf through them, I gave pause.

~O~

"Haruspex," I said aloud. "One who I do not know and I doubt has the right, has bequeathed me your books to loan and perhaps your shop. I mean no intrusion and will see that the books are returned to your successor.

If indeed you can hear me, or perhaps even respond, I will do my best to respect the things you have left to this world. If, like the other, you know me then you know..." I quieted a pause and thought on my words. They were brutally honest and nerving to say.

"Then you know I have come here for power. All my life I have never really had any, no influence or clout, no applicable skills to make change. I've felt useless and walked on. It was once quoted that power, what it really is, is options. The option to do things in more ways than the way you are forced to. But as I gain this power I will endeavor to use it properly, I will use these tomes" I pointed to the books, my tone now reverent "and this knowledge" I raised my iPhone from my pocket "and I will do what is right to the best of my ability. I come for more than power though, I come for splendor, my mind creates worlds of fiction and fantasy, I dream of going to places like this of learning unique gifts or magic but the world from which I hail is bland and devoid of splendor and so I live there in depression for I would never see a being that wasn't a human. Not having magic in the world meant that the world really didn't have anything magical" I stated as magic to mean the usual and magical to really mean 'special'.

"I want this because... because I want to be special. I want to be the hero, I want to be able to perform the actions my heart longs for. I want to tear back the darkness and uphold the weak. I want to be the champion I was born to be but I always lacked... the power"

~O~

I fell silent.

After a long moment of emptiness and deep reflection on the truth of who I was. Staring at the ground feeling heartfelt and heartbroken over the truth of my own life. I'd always wanted to be the hero and now in my mid-thirties I compulsed at random trying to avoid dark thoughts, usually of my past, I'd tighten muscles or let out a scream and sometimes wanting to live in a world devoid of life, that the pressures had all gone and there was no one left to abuse me or reject me. I sometimes found myself wishing I could kill everyone on the planet to get there but only in as much as 'everyone' were faceless shadows. When the truth came in and I saw the real people, men trying to provide, single mothers struggling, children who just wanted to play or students in Hong Kong fighting against an unstoppable tyrant. Then I didn't want to kill, I wanted to save them, help them. I was a broken man who would one day die and the world would never know how much I hated or loved it.

"I say kill them all." I said in a whisper, allowing myself to reflect on just how broken I really was. It was embarrassing but I allowed my self to cry. I often didn't and usually couldn't but at times like this. I mourned the man I could have been, serving now as only his gravestone. I recalled how when I was younger, I apparently only smiled, how I loved to share my candies with my older brother who rarely shared back, how it was such a sweet beginning that had culminated to this point and I cried harder. My lips pulled back from my teeth and tears welled up in my eyes blurring all vision as they squinted closed.

And then I remembered my position, I had a clear and visible threat, a danger and I had the beginnings of real power. I had knowledge centuries ahead of its time, I had hope and across from me, I had magic... real magic. This world did have splendor, it did have wonders and beautiful beings who were more than just human. I had purpose here and I began to cry at the beauty of it all.

I rose to my feet wiping the tears from my face and returning my heart to its cold state.

"I. WILL. SAVE. THEM" I had nearly yelled out at a gruff tone.

I had to laugh aloud at the silliness of it, I had meant it but I sounded like fucking batman down here.

~O~

~O~

~O~

I pulled out my phone and got my music list on youtube.

I found 'Can't Hold Us' by Macklemore and began to play it nodding to the music. I even plugged it into my little portable speakers.

As the music hit me I found my spirit lifted to the point I wanted to dance along. It started with some sliding of my feet, I worked in some movements of my arms, I moved my head around and began to feel amazing, my spirits lifted.

I picked up the pace of my dancing. I used to dance all the time, when I was alone and had a room to do it in. I didn't go to clubs, too embarrassed for that but I felt I was actually pretty good. Even if my poor health wouldn't let me dance a song longer than 3 minutes before I needed a breather. Kind of a shitty truth for a guy who once used to perform triangle jumps on loop. Kicking off things without ever hitting the ground.

I was born just a few years too late to have hit the parkour movement, I had potential for it, if I could of afforded a safe place to practice but none of that bothered me now. I had a future, I had a destiny.

I began to sing along with the deep-voiced part of the chorus, I imagined he was a large black guy who sung it but for all I knew he was a tiny white guy. I laughed aloud at not knowing. My voice lent itself to that part more than the others. I used to sing along too, sometimes I was good I thought, not like, in public good but I humored karaoke at one point, course I chicken'd out.

"This is the moment, tonight is the night, we'll fight until it's over, So we put our hands up, Like the ceiling can't hold us, Like the ceiling can't hold us!"

I felt great about what lay ahead, while I imagined myself having the answers to the problems that ailed the world. I imagined that I could save us all. It felt so good and pure.

After what must have turned into a 30-minute solo party session in a dead woman's shop I looked over the books taking a deep breath. I removed a red one and opened it to see the fae text inside.

"FUCK..."

~O~

~O~

~O~

**AN:** I call all smartphones Iphones bc I am basic when it comes to them. Also, the phone is my fiance's, I have none. Although trucking would have pushed me to get one probably.

~O~

~O~

~O~


	5. Chapter 5: The Truth of Many Things

**Chapter 5: The Truth of Many Things**

* * *

~O~

~O~

~O~

The door to Aine's pub opened in the back as I stepped in. It had grown quite late. I looked up from my thoughts to see Aine sitting at a table, she had been worrying, I could see it all over her. 'Shit' I thought.

"And just where the hell have you been!" She snarled at me in a terribly feminine way. I paused at the care she'd shown. "I was about to lock the doors and go to bed assuming ya either got what ya wanted. or had been murdered!"

I saw it now, she lived alone, she hadn't had anyone to care for and then suddenly she did. Her anger held back the fear and possibly somewhere deeper within, sorrow.

"Aine... Shit, I hate pronouncing that wrong... I'm sorry, I was amazingly successful, There is so much to talk about and I just feel so wonderful. I want to share it with you" I said in regret leading excitement.

She waited, her eyes wandering left to right as she shook her head in doubt. "You promised me things and I want them..." There was a pause as she bit her lip "I want them now or yer on yer own tonight".

~O~

'Ouch' That hurt, she was my only friend in this world and she was a really good one. She let me get away with murder today and I had, however unintentionally, abused it.

~O~

"Right, right. Fuck, where to start" I said, I hadn't prepped for this at all. I had imagined countless of my characters becoming dimensionally lost and at some point having to have this conversation but here, in reality, I had trouble finding the words.

"Well I suggest ya fucking figure it out. Right Now!" Her nose wrinkled as she snapped at me, I knew the difference between nagging and care, she cared.

"Ok, let's just lay the groundwork. Ok." I said nodding to her explenatively.

"Fine. Whatever that means" She retorted.

"So you are a fairy... faerie?" I doubted the pronunciation though I knew here they spelled it faerie. "There are centaurs and fauns and all kinds of shit, somehow it's only the 600's and you have fucking trains, Oh and let's not forget magic. Real magic, Haruspex's and darkasher oh my" I couldn't resist the stupid reference she wouldn't get, her eye squinted in disdain as I said it, she knew I had little in-jokes she wasn't getting that I derived amusement from.

"Right... Wait, what?" She nodded and then realized she didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

"My point is, all of this shit is impossible to me." I explained in pure excitement gesticulating extravagantly "So bear (yes I did that) with me as I explain this and know, that despite what it may seem, I wouldn't lie to you but it's going to seem crazy.".

~O~

She thought on my words searching for reason in them as her face showed visible signs of thought and uncertainty but extreme curiosity.

~O~

"Wait, are we alone in here?" I asked like the paranoid fuck I was.

"Well yes, shops fukin closed, isn't it! Are ya implying I'd have a suitor over" She said in disgust.

"Nope, just paranoid, I can't let this get out. I need you to promise me, what I am about to tell you, you will tell no one. It could get me killed." I begged of her.

"Fine, I won't tell anyone... Now just what the hell is it? What's your damn secret?!" She demanded of me.

"To answer that, I have to explain a concept because you probably don't have it here yet, but fuck, you have running water so I don't know. Just understand I'm not trying to be an ass here." I continued.

"Just get on with it..." She said perplexed "Gah, yer just leaving me hanging here using a lot of words to not say a damn thing.".

"Yes, I am" I assured her. I held my hand up in a fist "Ok this is your world and beyond it the moon..."

"Are you from the fucking moon?!" She interrupted in shocked disbelief.

"further" I abruptly responded "Ok, beyond the moon and all the other planets and stars to the very boundaries of the universe, this is your world and to our perspective, this is the focal point. Not the center but the relevant part. This planet, not the whole thing. Well, there exists a theory called 'The Multi-verse theory' It is the concept that next to this universe is another universe, another planet but different in some ways. Sometimes a little different, like say you were born a boy.".

She stared on at the implications of my speech, her lips parting and eyes widening, It was a new concept to her but she could understand it.

"Some of these differences are bigger and bigger and bigger to the point that the two universes are entirely different. I've seen maps of this world, mine has different landmass. There are no fae, no magic. I am a human born in the year 1986 and from 2019 of another world, another universe.". I continued with impactful speech.

She stared at me thinking, her eyes racing back and forth, "Prove it." she asked of me with a sense doubt and wonder.

"Ok... I can and will but... and I need your word on this... You will never, ever tell anyone, under any circumstance other than torture or murder, anything about what I am about to show you." I said with a certainty that demanded her to hold to that promise.

She thought on it for shorter than I would have liked and then nodded "I promise, now show me.".

I looked her in the eye for a long pause, both to question my actions and to have her see the importance of this moment. I then slowly produced my Iphone from my pocket.

"This is a device of my time and world. It is called an Iphone. It's not magic, its technology." I began to explain it, holding it up beside me.

"What does it do?" She asked inquisitively nearing the small rectangular device.

"That's gonna be hard to explain because it's the culmination of several technologies over that past few decades. When I am home, it hooks up to a network, more on that in a moment. This network is full of information, the whole world adds to it, each person contributes.".

She looked on and let a gentle blink "that's beautiful." She said with heartfelt words.

"Yeah well, it's also full of things that are wrong, lies and opinions of pure douchery, you just have to know how to look for the right stuff and try and have a thick skin.".

She gleamed at the device, mesmerized by its potential.

"It does a shit ton more than that too, I can contact anyone in the world who has one in an instant and speak to them." I stopped at that realization "Fuck, I could have called home yesterday and told my mom where the fuck I am." I announced aloud.

She gasped and let out a half giggle of surprise "Do it.. Call. her." she said uncertain of the terminology.

"Shit, yeah, ok, that'd be good. I need to lie to her though. I can't tell her I just hopped dimensions, that shit is really unbelievable and it'll just cause problems." I justified.

She nodded in understanding as I plugged in the number (heh, old terminology from the days of switchboards, the irony) I placed the phone on speaker as it began to ring. She jumped excitedly at the sound. She had shown me magic and in the moment, now I was showing her.

"You gotta stay quiet, she'll be able to hear you ok"

She nodded in silence eyes glowing like a child holding their first ice cream. "What's that sound" She enthusiastically tried to whisper.

"It mimics the sound she hears on the other end to know she has a call and lets me know its ringing there to get her attention." I said as I held a finger to my lips to remind her to hush, with a large warm smile. She giggled more and held her mouth closed.

It wasn't at all what I expected, I thought proving my story would be so much harder but she just accepted it as possible, and once proof was presented then, it was real to her.

"Hello." My mother's chipper voice came across the phone.

"Hey mom, I just wanted to call and say I'm sorry, I got a load, I had to head out real quick.". I replied warmly, happy to hear her voice.

"I was wondering. You left all your things here.". She responded without much concern. My mother was quite chill and trusted me, my explanation made sense to her as I figured it would. There was a small chance she would have been freaked out but I'd dodged it.

~O~

~O~

(**AN:** yes there's a chance but playing my mother as a character is awkward so I left it be to minimize)

~O~

~O~

"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know I was ok, sorry I didn't call earlier, I was busy"

"Oh that's alright, I just was wondering where you were"

"Well, I gotta get going mom, I love you.".

"I love you too" She replied and I felt my heart soften and melt. Her voice was refreshing to hear amidst this crazy adventure. I hanged up before Aine knew I had ended the call.

"If this phone is ever broken, lost or stolen from me, I will never be able to do that again." I impressed upon her the importance.

She looked on silent and impatiently bouncing off her heels rhythmically. "Oh, yeah, the calls over, you can talk." I said releasing her from her silent prison.

"That was amazing! She really was across worlds?.. or dimensions?" She second-guessed herself. "You... You're really across from another dimension?!" She said in sudden surprise at the truth.

"Yes." I replied chill with a nod.

"How did you get here then?" she questioned still excited as it faded to inspection.

"Fuck if I know, I was on my way to check the safe storage I keep my shit locked up at and then suddenly bam, in a puff of plot I arrived here all Giant in the Playground style." I said amusing myself on another fucking reference.

"Alright. That one I caught" She started to point out but I cut her off "Oh, you got that reference did you?" I said mimicking the Cap from Marvel.

"See. That. That right there. What are doing" She said with amused annoyance. She knew I'd been pulling fast ones, and demanded she be let in on the joke.

"Right, that, well I'm referencing various moments of popular media. Like quoting a play in a relevant moment to a friend" I explained smiling so wide I chuckled a few times as I told her.

She stopped and thought on it, her eyebrows pulling together as she pondered it "But no one here would get it." She said uncertainly explaining.

"Ex-fucking-xactly" I replied turning red behind a giant shit-eating grin.

"YOU!... YOU.."

She couldn't finish so I helped her "Little Shit?" I concluded.

"Yes! You little shit!" She said not knowing her words exact meaning and then laughing at it.

~O~

The whole interaction just felt so good. Even if I was past my prime and had no chance with her really it felt good to flirt. I knew nothing real could come of this but it was soul-healing to wonder. I wanted to not be alone anymore, I'd been single since two years after high school, I imagined being able to hold her and tell her I loved her. I wasn't sure if I did but it was nice to think on it just the same.

We stayed up together sitting there at one of those thick wooden tables in the dining area for most of the night as I showed her wonder after wonder on my phone, we took pictures together, made silly faces and I showed her my mother's house, where I stayed, from google street view.

~O~

Link: Wrong...

~O~

We'd been having the time of our lives all night. I even introduced her to memes, though with limited result, because I had to explain each one after she saw it. So little translated, but then, once she understood them I went about making my own, relevant to her world.

"That moment you realize fae had fucking magic." I said as I showed her an image of Cthulhu, who I'd explained to her previously. She laughed hard at the idea of Cthulhu being a darkasher who stomped their oppressors into the ground.

There was a meme with a person debating pushing one of two red buttons and sweating usually associated with an obvious fucking choice, that I showed her. In an unlabeled version, I pointed to button 1 "Go after the actually guilty person" and then to button 2 "Blame the fae" I scrolled down to the animation where button 2 was being pushed rapidly. She laughed hard at it as she learned the value of laughing at the shit life had dealt us.

~O~

Button Link:

www. google imgres?imgurl=https% . gif&imgrefurl=https% -struggle&docid=_1Cyp5mSqa58yM&tbnid=7R7ShP9tDdDMJM&vet=10ahUKEwjo8uTh1fDlAhUMvlkKHeb3BWgQMwhPKAEwAQ.. i&w=460&h=1008&client=firefox-b-1-d&bih=930&biw=1920&q=button&ved=0ahUKEwjo8uTh1fDlAhUMvlkKHeb3BWgQMwhPKAEwAQ&iact=mrc&uact=8

~O~

In a quieter moment I looked up to her "So, you wanna hear some music from my world?" I asked her.

"Well of course? Are you a musician too then?" She responded curiously.

"let me answer that with a question" I smirked back as I set out the speakers to play Macklemore once more. First, the drums snapped in as I rose from the table and offered her my hand. The piano started up as Macklemore encouraged us on 'Ok, let's go!'.

Aine listened and looked with nervous surprise "Oh no... No no no. I can't. I don't even know how ya dance to this" She laughed as she tried to escape with her words.

"Oh no, I'm not looking a fool alone." I said as I raised her up from the seat by her hand. A high pitched squeal came out from her as she laughed.

"So in my world, there seems to only be two forms of dancing to this, awkwardly close, like your trying to have sex on the dance floor or in a cool style like this." I said as I began my freestyle dance moves laughing hard because I knew how stupid I looked doing them.

"What... What are you doing?" She snickered as she held the back of her hand over her mouth.

"It's called a seizure." I explained.

"A what?! Really?" Her eyes looked disturbed at the name.

"Shake and bake!" I yelled at her randomly linking the seizure joke to Talladega Nights.

"OH!" She began slapping at me "Your doing it again! Stop it, no one knows what you're talking about!" She laughed hardily as she attacked me.

"Your spilling, You're spilling it... You're spilling it" I said as she hit me making a callback to Beowulf.

"Seriously, fukin stop it!" She continued to giggle uncontrollably "I mean it, knock it off. It's like ya speak in fuckin memes" She laughed louder and louder at the fun we were having.

~O~

Amidst terrible turmoil, surrounded by flight restricting barbed wire, oppressive police and a government that hated us, two people partied into the night, chortling and joyous more than any other in the city would for the remainder of the year. In the hardships of the world, we find our light. We find our hope against impossible odds and our hearts bleed in a way that frees and connects us. Unburdened by the norms of society and what is expected of us, being broken can free us. Aine and I experienced this the most that night.

~O~

The excitement kept us up late into the night and I felt like Buck fucking Rogers in the 20th Century. Late in the evening she realized the hour and looked to the windows from a laugh.

~O~

"Oh dear... What time is it now then..." She wondered aloud "Time to sleep is what that is." She turned to look at me and bit her lip, there was a long look into my eyes that startled me. "This table's no place to sleep, why don't ya come up with me yeah?"

~O~

'Oh Shit' My brain snapped 'Fuck... Not so out of my league as I thought... No, you have no idea what this is' I told myself 'Yeah fucking right, it might not be a play at sex but this is deeper than just nothing' I reasoned. I hated trying to figure out what girls were thinking. In moments like this, a single wrong step could fuck everything up. I was probably overthinking it. 'God what if she did want to have sex or something' My thoughts raced.

That felt embarrassing and awkward, I didn't look good anymore, not really, there was a lot of weight on me. Besides, random sex isn't really something I do and if she wanted it and I rejected it, it could really hurt her. 'Fuck, Fuck, Fuck' My thoughts raced in a moments passing and I hoped that my face had given away nothing.

My face, I thought, by default was fairly expressionless, maybe leaning towards intense. I had to use it before it gave much response. Some things I couldn't hide but most I didn't think showed and I was good at lying with it when I need to. Most people that pissed me off never knew it.

~O~

"Alright." I said faking a warm smile using the genuine bit that I did want to go up with her. What I really wanted to do was hold her all night.

~O~

She returned the smile to me and then hopped up off the top of the table. Her bounce had lightened the atmosphere. 'Had she detected it's weight and was easing the tension?' I wondered.

We moved through the place to the stairs and I followed her up them. I couldn't help but check her ass out. I had spent a lot of time designing women in 3d space, it left me curious of the actual form and comparing reality to fantasy. I also just, of course, appreciated the aesthetics. She wasn't meat to me but there was an artistic value to the female form I appreciated. I looked down after the brief glimpse trying not to be an ass or at least not be noticed being one. I stole one or two more before we reached the top.

~O~

~O~

~O~

The door to her apartment opened and I could finally take a look around. 'Just what did a 17th-century faerie girl's room look like anyways?' You girls may not have noticed but your decorating tastes are wildly different from men's and I don't just mean different choices of basic things. Girls tend to decorate in various forms of art, their actual art, hanging curtains in unique ways and clippings from magazines. Girls, at least the ones I've met, tended to become really involved with the appearance of their space. While men, on the other hand, were happy to just slap up a few posters and as many weapons as they could manage. If he's a truly basic-bitch then probably soft porn decorates his walls.

Her room, during the day, lay in soft, dim light peering in from the two windows on the wall. It angled into the room making obvious but faded trails where it had penetrated the red patterned curtains, mostly covering them. Dust danced gently in the glowing light which warmed the interior to easy visibility.

At night an oil lamp sat on the counter by the door. The fluid inside was red, the basin was made of ornately bubbled glass and it rose to a slender shapely shield.

Aine took the lamp and lit it, in a simple practiced motion. Its flickering glow illuminated the room softly.

Inside the room opened to the left and right of the door, with a hallway further down to our left. Shadows hide its secrets.

A three-seat fainting couch, old and worn rested against the right wall. It was upholstered in red, diamond tufting. The fabric had faded and given in some spots and what was once a beautiful piece of furniture had now seen its day. It's dark, carved, wooden feet curved down to the hardwood floor.

The floor was stained a deeper brown. The center of the room held an old ornate rug, like the couch before it, it too had past its prime. Tatters and a hole rested in it. Artisan carved trim made up the baseboards. The ceiling had moldings formed in plaster making a ring at the border of the room a foot in.

The walls were lathe and plaster with a subtle amber hue. At the top, moldings decorated them before the ceiling.

The back right corner held a cushioned chair in egg-cream beige behind a pattern of red triangles. The arms were frayed and one loosely sat on. The seat was crushed in, the interior had given out long ago.

It was the ghostly remains of all once beautiful things, the artisanry that went into them shown in every way and beyond them the room was barren. Aine was a master of interior design, she had acquired all the right colors and the space looked stunningly beautiful. It even matched her chosen dress style. It pained the heart to see that for all her talent and taste, this was what she could manage.

I wondered how often she sat in the lonely, grave, space and felt at home and happy or how often she looked around, not wanting to be selfish but thought 'I deserve better than this.'. She worked, she provided a service, she fed 100's. She did deserve better for her efforts but the economy and bigotry didn't afford her it. This was their industrial revolution and while it differed from what I recalled should be, I did seem to remember it being an abysmal time to be low income.

~O~

"So, this is my place... Though ya already seen it didn't ya?" She said amused at my earlier intrusion.

"I love it. It's perfect. The reds, the old-style couch, that chair. I just love it" I relayed my soulful feelings.

"Old style couch? What do ya mean by that then?" She wondered.

"Oh, right..." I laughed a little "We don't make couches like that anymore." I explained.

"What do ya make then?" She questioned.

I sighed "Basic, boring things. Nice upholstery but we abandoned all these Victorian styles ages ago." I elaborated.

"Victorian?" She asked, Whenever she asked about something she had a cute look of uncertainty and her nose wrinkled as she pulled her cheeks up and squinted her eyes a hair.

"Oh, she was a queen of a certain period, they named a lot of the styles and architecture after her. Couldn't say which one she was though. Seems like the royal family had only about 5 names to toss about. Didn't run out of numbers though did they. Henry the 8th and all that or whatever product number they designated him with." I joking but callously explained.

Suddenly I recalled an important detail I wanted to cover and sort of just blurted right into it. "OH!...I spoke with Mima, she said..."

Aine held up a finger to interrupt me so I stopped. "Mima is a title," She said with a giggle. They are the holy leaders of our society." She divulged to me.

"Oh... Well, I feel stupid because I think I called her 'Mima' like 30 times." I chuckled.

"It's fine, Mima Sawsaan, I'm sure did not mind." She said amused.

"Right well, I met with her, I told her... Well actually I didn't tell her shit, she just knew... That's creepy, you know that right?" I interrupted myself again.

"Not to us," She giggled, I loved the way she laughed, so full of life and happiness "we trust the Mima.".

"AN-E-WAYsssssahhh" I continued.

"Did you seriously just do it again?" She accused me.

"Do what?" I asked confused.

"Meme at me?!" She said with a huff of no real heat.

"Oh... Shit, I'm the boy that cried wolf." I laughed "No. I was just being obnoxious." I concluded.

"Were ya now..." She pulled her lips to the right in faux frustrations

"Right well the Mima made me the Haruspex" I blurted out...

"She what?!" Aine shot back.

"Oh... Not the real Haruspex, that's some other girl out of country. I just get to keep the old Haruspex's books and read them, I get to learn Haruspexy. She gave me the key to the shop and everything" I explained in bursts of energy.

"Even that seems a bit far fetched..." She replied, her face looking uncertain.

"I think she knew how bad I really wanted to have magic and that I was dumb and crazy enough to actually try and help out here. Plus desperation helps, perhaps she's seen some shit in the future that justifies it. Are they omniscient?" I rattled on.

Aine shook her head at me "No..." She said dully with hidden amusement at yet another one of my outlandish assumptions of their powers, like immortality. "You had best take that gift very seriously. A Haruspex is a..." She bit her lower lip to the side "Well its a bit of a scary thing but it is also a sacred one. We don't have much from the old country and even less of our old ways. We mourned Haruspex Aoife Tsagani, we lost something precious when she died. For all I know, her books may be the last surviving ones on Haruspexy.".

I nodded in silence and there was a moment of reverence at her words. "I promised Haruspex Aoife Tsagina I would do my best by the books. I'd use them to help, however I could." I said in a solemn chill.

"You should also know Haruspexy is not for the faint of heart, I don't know it well but it involves sacrifice and brings about dark things. It isn't some whimsical thing for fun. True darkness can be achieved through it." She gravely warned me.

"I'll be careful" I let another moment pass as we stared at each other and the floor "Also... I need help. The books are in fae... faeish?" I tried to guess the name of the language.

"Anoun. They're in Anoun" She smiled, it tickled her to see me try and get pronunciations right "And yes, if Mima Sawsaan has given this to you then I will help you learn it.".

"Well, that's settled then but we still have to get you settled in. The couch there is all I've really got buts a far sight better than that old table." She said changing the topic.

"Oh and down there" She pointed to the hallway "On the right is the bath, my rooms on the left.".

"Huh, so you do have toilets." I considered out loud.

"Well yeah... How'd you deal with that last night then?".

I embarrassingly replied, "I vaguely recalled the old method being the street.".

"The street then?" She laughed "Oh, you must just think we're all abunch of fukin primitives don't ya.".

I gave her a look that said it, as I said it "Hey, don't call me out..."

"You're the one pissin in the streets like a fukin rat, at least I know where the lou is" She jokingly jabbed at me.

"Yeah well, you pile your garbage in the street and what the fuck is up with how '_wash'_ your dishes" I laughingly stabbed back.

"What's wrong with my dishes then? and just what hell are we supposed to do with the trash?" She found the whole conversation very amusing.

"Well, you primitive ape, it's called Diiishhh Detergent. Also, Waste. Removal." I was turning red laughing at her.

"Right... Well. There's the couch." She said with a finality that confused me as she turned in a faux huff to her bedroom, disappearing inside.

I looked back at the couch "Hey, Aine, I need some blankets" I said recalling the ones from last night.

"We haven't fukin invented them yet. Your fancy ars'll just have to wait a few hundred years" She teased at me harder. I could hear her rustling around in her room.

"Right... Well, I concede, she with the blankets wins any argument" I announced in defeat, loud enough for her to hear.

Her bedroom door opened as she came out with blankets "Damn right and don't ya forget it." She stated stern and amused.

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

"Who the fuk you think I married then?" She snapped back.

"Oh, uhh well in the marvelously advanced future where we pulled our primordial asses out of the wreckage of ignorance, woman can hold positions of authority and in the way we call men 'sir' we call them ma'am." I confidently explained.

~O~

She stood there uncertain how to respond, I had her in a box, she either had to accept the future was indeed advanced or have me take back the remark of respect.

~O~

She cocked an eyebrow and perked her lips to the side. "Yeah well, I still have the blankets... I think I'll stay extra warm tonight.".

"I concede, I concede" I dryly pleaded.

"Well, we've both heard that before and then you basically called me primordial..." She snapped.

"Out of respect..." I petitioned "It was a genuine display of the wisdom and grace that I believe comes with age" I could not hold back the laughter.

"OH. YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME OLD" She was still having fun but done with me "That's it, downstairs, back to the table, no blankets, no pillow. You just be thankful I'm not puttin your arse in the street. Another word and I might change me mind on that too." She teased.

I calmed, the joking was fun but it'd reached its end. I reached out and grabbed her shoulders "Aine. Thank you. Thank you for the help.". I said meaningfully.

"Well yeah, I couldn't let ya starve and freeze now could I." she justified.

~O~

She casually handed me the pillows and blankets.

~O~

"Its fun being here with you. I love it so very much." I told her "get some rest, morning is going to suck a lot of fucks.".

"That it wil... Honestly, yer expressions are just something else aren't they" She jested.

I smiled at her and let out a half-laugh through my nose. "Good night Aine"

"G'night ya daft man." She said in a sigh as she turned back to her room.

~O~

~O~

**AN:** So there was this massive scene in response to her asking me about couches that quickly divulged into a multi-paragraphed rant about how much I hate humans and my world... I had a bad fucking couple of days. Note to self, don't write while depressed.

It was pretty funny in retrospect. "We were the happiest people in the city." Next scene "All of humanity should slow burn in a dumpster fire of baby farts.". Nice tonal shift there.

~O~

~O~

~O~

* * *

End Day: 2  
Current Funds: n/a  
Daily Income  
-Daily Income after daily expenses:  
Amount Spent:  
Payments-

Developing Skills-  
None 


	6. Chapter 6: The Return of Health and Dark

**Chapter 6: The return of health and darkness.**

~O~

~O~

~O~

In the morning I had awoken well rested for the first time since my arrival. I could feel, and a glance at the windows above me reaffirmed, that I had not slept in as I expected I was gonna. 'Shit, I got less than eight. Means I'll get tired later' I thought. Never did mean I could go back to sleep now though and with my plans, it meant I wasn't gonna sleep til tonight either. Hopefully, there would not be a mid-day crash.

My stomach was upset as fuck and I knew exactly what was wrong. My trucker life had left plenty of cash and little time to cook. It had been filled with an endless supply of sweets and my body had become quite accustomed to them. 'And now I live in an age where 2 lumps of sugar at a soiree is pushing the limit of rudeness.' I lamented. In the long run, it would be great, I had a love for good home-cooked food and Aine made plenty of that, but for now, it meant I would feel sick. I would have a desperate craving I couldn't possibly satisfy.

'No time for that now though' I thought as I sat up and began getting dressed quickly to avoid being seen in my boxers by Aine. 'Where is she anyways?' I pondered. After a hold for silence, I could hear her moving about the bathroom.

I was waiting and excited to tell her my plans. As I fell to sleep I had done much consideration about the apothecary, the books and my predicament. I still really needed to research similar events in history but it's not like I had wasted a ton of time. Everything that happened had needed to happen. Today would hopefully afford me another chance though.

~O~

The bathroom door opened and Aine paced out fully dressed in her usual outfit. I recalled that people of this age usually had one outfit in my world. It's how high society used laws to keep the 'filth' off the beaches. They required you had a bathing suit. 'God I hate my world... Who's to say this one's any better?' I questioned.

Aine was toweling her wet hair. Mid-night I had discovered they not only had toilets but they had baths as well. 'She does' I answered myself 'It's more than humans here, their psychology is different, they hold different, quite likely more, potential than my species ever could.'.

"Mornin'" Aine greeted me.

"Hey there. You look good" I beamed back at her. I loved complimenting women, they tended to have confidence issues with their looks and that could be helped with a simple compliment, of course, it ran the risk of looking like a pass, so care had to be taken. Usually complimenting their dress or nails or hair worked. I didn't do that, I had complimented the whole her. Its what I felt and I hated hiding that but it had its consequences.

"Well thank ya. Ya look like ya could do with a bit of tidying up I'm afraid to admit" She replied warmly but with regretful truth.

"Maybe later, I had some thoughts and I wanted to go over them with you" I started into my plans.

"What thoughts then? Plans to end this .ghetto. mess then" She had pause around the word 'ghetto' uncertain of its usage.

"Yeah. Well, two-fold actually... No three. Ok, first things first, I don't know the plan but whatever it is it's gonna have to involve the fae. I'm going to need to command their respect or operate through people who do. I'm not superman, I can't just pummel the government by myself."

"Right, I get that. Superman's another reference then?" She nodded and then curiously asked.

"Yeah but not as an in-joke, common phrase of my world. Supermans this fictional, unstoppable badass. We use him a lot in conversation. usually in the phrase 'I'm not Superman'." I explained.

"Ah... Got it, makes sense, well then, this three-point plan of yers?" She moved us back to topic.

"Well, I need money, you need money or at least to not support me, I need respect and in a time of crisis, you just lost your damn medicine woman. I can reopen the apothecary. I'll use my Iphone to figure out what does what. There's a lot of medical help online. It's better to go to a doctor or school for this sort of thing but this is what I've got and sickness is going to be an issue. I could really help everyone out by doing this." I divulged my plan with enthusiasm.

Aine nodded in agreement as her eyes took it all in and considered the merits "It's a good plan..." She said but there was something somber in her voice.

"What? What's wrong." I asked her, pushing the issue.

She let out a sigh and put on a smile "Well, I was hopin' to have ya around today, it'd be nice for the company for once. Besides, you and me, we have a lot of fun together. I was gonna tell ya the joke I came up with and everythin'" She lamented to me "But yer right, its a damn good plan. I suppose now that ya got the apothecary you'll be stayin' there too then?"

"No... Well, not if I don't have to. I'd like to come back here. I like your company too." I smiled brokenly at her. I was gonna miss her, She had become my dear friend so quickly but it seemed I kept getting pulled away from her. "Wait. Tell me your joke." I asked of her, with some hope of future fun.

She smiled. "Alright. Its the two-button one" She began to explain, referencing the meme we'd viewed earlier "Left button's 'Blame the fae', right button's 'Actually go after the guilty party'." She laughed as she finished her sentence.

I quickly joined in the laughter as we both mirrored rapidly smashing our fingers into the left button. She came over close as she laughed and threw her arms about me, there was a firm hug that I couldn't help but reciprocate.

"I'll miss ya today." She said as she crushed me against her. Her arms lacked much strength and her body felt oddly soft, I looked to her wings that fluttered as she held me and wondered if her bones were hollow for flight like birds. Either way, she was a gentler, physically weaker creature and I imagined people who would bully her, or her kind, and how happily it would fill me with sickly delight to listen to them scream as I ripped their eyes from their sockets.

I shook my head violently at the thought in a pre-programmed motion to escape immersive thoughts like this. It happened even if I didn't find it unpleasant as long as I was sucked in. This one toed the line. I used compelling thoughts like this to reaffirm my standpoint on evil but in such a gentle moment, it spoiled it for me.

"What's wrong then?" Aine asked me with worried care.

Explaining this kind of stuff was super embarrassing and I'd done a good job avoiding having to do such for years now. "Bad thought..." I said dryly as I looked down. "It happens some times."

"Bad thought of what?" She asked, her eyes soulful and sympathetic. She wanted to help me. She could see I had demons, that much had been made clear when I told her about my world.

~O~

I gave her a look, I hadn't meant it to, but it said 'please' I asked her not to pry. She nodded and was about to refrain from asking while she held her open fist to her chest. I couldn't deny her, I did want someone to know my pain and she was magic to me, so wonderful and accepting. I figured she would accept my faults, accept who I was, that inside, at times I was a creature of turbulent rage.

~O~

"It was of people..." I started, she waited with bated breath as she leaned her head back in a tilt "hurting you, the fae." I continued and then I had hit my stride "In part, we are, either by nature or nurture, pre-programmed to protect the weak. Now your people are a good people but I can see from you and even faerie men, your frail of frame, your bodies lack our density. We're physically stronger than you, of course, you get to fly but that makes you majestic not physically superior. Men attacking you and hurting your kind is wrong. Its wrong in the way a grown man slapping around a woman or a child is wrong. He has a gift and instead of sharing it, to help others, he uses it to lord over them."

I stopped, considering my lengthy explanation. My head lowered down now just staring at the floor. I felt her warm hands place themselves upon my cheeks.

"We can take care of ourselves." She said trying to reassure me but I responded with only a look around to her house and situation.

"The gun is the great equalizer. We'll get through this" I said in a chilly breath.

"What happened to you, that you care so much, that your thoughts are all so final and extreme, who hurt you?" She asked as she held me.

A let out a breath from my nose in an almost laugh "No one hurt me, not really, the occasional asshole, but I wasn't really ever beaten or anything. I'm different is all, born that way or somehow through my parents, my father and society, I came out this way. I'm not sure really, always have tried to put my finger on it. No, the anger comes from impotence, I want to help and I never can, not really. I just don't really know how, and its fueled by disappointment. I want the world to care like I do, but they never do. No, but they sure can get fired up and protest at some stupid pointless shit though. Human trafficking and a rebellion for democracy in Hong Kong but by God, the appalling affront of Ben Shapiro giving a speech at Berkley, or heaven forbid you don't have your fucking SaFe SpAcE...". I'd ranted again. 'Damnit'.

"Well, I don't know who Ben Shaparo is or what a ...safe space... Wait? what is a safe space" She questioned, there was a part of her ready to defend the notion of something called a 'safe space'.

"Oh, it's this fucking thing on college campuses where if you go there supposedly no one can say mean things to you. As if colleges are just full of people walking around yelling obscenities. Oh, also one of our two political parties aren't really accepted about being spoken there." I told her in annoyance.

"Ooh, What the fuk even is that? I mean, if ya didn't want to hear peoples shite you'd go fuking home but that's life, isn't it? I put up with these basterds callin' me critch and acting like I'm some kinda trash, every day. It's just what ya have to do.".

"No, that's bullshit, there's a difference, people shouldn't be racist or speciest, I'll be honest I don't really understand the fucking safe space thing. Here's what I do know, it's not important on a scale of tyrannical governments, human trafficking, economic collapse and rampant corruption throughout our entire political system." I carried on in frustration.

"Well, having dealt with most of that and a few other things, no, being called critch doesn't mean much when the pact are dropping bombs from overhead on yer home."

"FUCK ME, THEY HAVE BOMBS!" I yelled out in absolute, horrifying shock.

"Yeah, that, and their airships and rapid-fire guns, flame throwers, and even fukin marroks." She elaborated as she felt overwhelmed.

"Well airships are cool but not when the goddamn baddies have them. Really, airships? What do they look like? And just what the hell is a marrok?" I rambled at her.

"Slow down there. The airships look like boats, but they're supported by these big..." She paused trying to find the word to describe them.

"Ballons? Ballast? Derigiable?" I offered.

"Yeah, that, Derigable. As for marrok, they're soldiers that have taken on the curse of the wolf, they use a sort of stimulant to bring about the change even when the moon is not full. They're terrible things."

"FUCKING Were-wolves? You have were-wolves piloting weaponized zeppelins? It's the fucking nazis of Wolfenstein. Holy shit, does their leader have a mech suit too?"

"A what suit, I don't know, I really don't know what that is and I'm sure I've never met him. Though the pact has two leaders. Its two nations in a sort of alliance."

I snorted a breath of air "Well that's a weakness right there. If it's possible to get them fighting amongst themselves. Those are problems for another day though." I reasoned. "Aine, you're a good friend to me and, in that way, I love you." I said nervously, I didn't want to scare her off.

"I love you too, gah yer kind are always so repressed. Was it so hard to say that then? Like it was gonna kill ya or something." She teased at me.

~O~

That had touched me deeply, I had always wanted to be able to express how I felt about people more freely and to hear her address it as a human condition made me hopeful I would appreciate fae society infinitely more.

~O~

"I didn't want you to get the wrong idea is all. Ya know, some creepy older guy comin' on to you or whatever." I jested with a smile trying to lighten my awkward explanation.

Her tongue slipped between her lips as she opened her mouth and leaned back as if to realize something "Older are ya..." She leaned her head down and looked at me from the tops of her large mismatched eyes, with a look that said 'oh really?'. "You forget that I told ya we live a fright longer than you do. And just how OLD are ya anyways?" She pronged at me.

There was a pause from me as I became perplexed by her words "Thirty-three?" I questioned back to her.

There was a look of surprise that struck her at my response "Well... Really... Thirty-three? Well, ya look damn good for it. How long do folks live in your world then?"

I wore a cocky little half-smile "My grandfather's 95 and still does everything for himself. That's unusual, most men die by 80 or so. His sister? cousin? Well anyways, she lived to 102." I told her.

"WELL, isn't that quite the difference, oldest man around here is probably 60. Oldest fae I knew was somewhere close to 200. Ya still think yer so much older than me then?" She teased but I could tell she wasn't going to tell me. "You ought to run off and open that apothecary then, while ya think on that little riddle I left ya" She flirted at me... Wait. She flirted at me. Holy Fuck. Kinda wish I'd lost the damn weight before now.

I don't care what historians think, rolls never looked good except at a bakery.

~O~

~O~

~O~

I arrived at the apothecary late morning, I used the key to open the lock with a sense of uncertainty. Mima Sawsaan did not say I could sell the Haruspex's supply but I also couldn't see her arguing it much. Especially with how I was gonna do it. Before I left I gave Aine instructions to tell her patrons of the newly re-opened apothecary but not to expect the expertise of the old Haruspex. Iphones were no match for true knowledge and experience.

I glanced around the shop for a time taking in the supplies. She had labeled precisely nothing in here. This could be poisonous, that could be helpful, this was for haruspexy, that was medicinal. Who the fuck knew?

Tracking down what was what, was a total pain in the ass. Bit by bit I typed in their descriptions; Tall stem, branches at end, blue flower, dried. Or short stem, brown buds, thorns, dried. I went through google images trying to match shit up. After I had identified it I looked online for its medicinal purposes and began writing the details out on some parchment the old witch had kept about.

I didn't want shit getting stolen so I followed Aoife's wisdom and hid the book detailing the names and values of each item inside.

After some of that organizing, I began researching what I knew to be a powerful and important drug; Asperin. First, I discovered it was invented in 1890 and so likely didn't exist here yet, 2nd I discovered it was mostly found in plants, it really was 'salicylic acid' and I had plenty of things in the shop with that in it. Aspirin could help me reduce fevers and relieve pain. I hadn't actually known what it did because I don't take many drugs. I avoid them to maintain their potency for when I really need them, instead of building a tolerance.

~O~

~O~

* * *

**WARNING:**

**READ THIS AUTHORS NOTE**

**AN:** In the next section my character begins to track down how one could make asperin from internet articles. From his position in the 1800's, this is pretty genius given his limited supplies. From your position where it is sold on shelves by professionals, this is pretty fucking stupid. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE YOUR OWN FUCKING ASPERIN. Just buy it off the shelves. I am not responsible for any attempts to make asperin or anything that happens to you if you pursue this incredibly stupid task.

If you find the investigation of how to make asperin boring there is more in this chapter and some hidden in the asperin section. Skip down to the second line break titled: '**PLOT**' for a brief distraction from my studies involving plot, and then to the next line break titled:'**ASPERIN RESEARCH CONCLUSION'** to get to the end of the asperin research.

EDIT: So Grammarly let me put this entire section through with 'aspirin' spelled as 'asperin'. It's going to be a serious pain the ass to fix because I would have to find them all by hand or open the file in Wordpad, do a find and replace, reupload it and then format it again, and this chapter is huge, so instead of doing that non-sense, how about I use the time to publish the next chapter or two?

* * *

**BEGIN ASPERIN RESEARCH SCENE**

~O~

~O~

Next, I had found a few sites that discussed synthesizing aspirin:

chem. libretexts Bookshelves/Ancillary_Materials/Laboratory_Experiments/Wet_Lab_Experiments/Organic_Chemistry_Labs/Experiments/1_Synthesis_of_Aspirin_(Experiment)

and

www. thoughtco how-to-make-aspirin-acetylsalicylic-acid-606315

and

www. birmingham. ac. uk/undergraduate/preparing-for-university/stem/Chemistry/stem-legacy-purify-organic. aspx

and

www. lahc. edu/classes/chemistry/arias/exp-. pdf

~O~

Right off I could see the recipe required some things I didn't have in the apothecary, it also spoke of using the raw ingredients such as the salicylic acid but that was locked inside supplies I had in their raw form, like willow bark and clover. Next, I had to figure out which thing had the most salicylic acid in it so I didn't burn up one of my supplies collecting ounces of the stuff by sacrificing bushels.

I began searching:

what has the most salicylic acid per square inch

kept referencing a book on google I knew I couldn't get the entirety of

what is the best thing to get salicylic acid from

Talked a lot about products

what is the best source of salicylic acid

Ahh, here we are, and an obvious choice to boot.

Link:

en. wikipedia wiki/Salicylic_acid

~O~

~O~

~O~

As I read through the page I discovered that it was also good for anti-acne medication. Cool to know, a poor use of it in these desperate times but I could put that to use later when things got better. I had remembered now, seeing its name as the active ingredient in astringent pads. Fuck this stuff was like some kind of super drug. Use it like this; asperin, use it like that; acne treatment.

Also, a study of 25,000 showed that an aspirin a day reduced chance of cancer by 20%. They said it was inconclusive but a good first step and while I can appreciate that, what happens to me if I take it each day and it doesn't do that? Probably not much. I, for reasons, had a fear of cancer. That too, however, would wait, these supplies were for those in great need.

I'd found an addendum to my earlier discovery. White Willow, not just any old Willow. Apparently, we'd known about it dating back as far as Sumer, you know, Mesopotamia, 3000 BC. The fucking beginning. Oldest civilization on earth that we know of.

It meant that white willow bark wouldn't be as cheap as I'd hoped.

~O~

~O~

~O~

* * *

**PLOT**

There was a ton more research to do. How to extract the Salicylic from White Willow bark, how to get the other extracted ingredients and then it called for droppers, which likely didn't exist, some kind of burner, glass and a glass stir. The Haruspex probably had a stir around here and some glass. I glanced up at three glass flasks and one jar on a shelf next to each other. They looked to have been shoved on, pushing some things back.

My curiosity began to peak. 'Detective Pikachu is on the case' I mused. I examined the glasses and they had indeed all four been shoved on the shelf together. The other items left dust-free zones in their shape where'd they'd been.

'Hmm, why have three been put back so shoddily' I wondered. I looked around the shop inspecting each item and their places. No, this woman was meticulous. Everything had a place and everything was in its place, except these bottles and jar.

~O~

~O~

**AN:** I do realize this goes somewhere which is why it's getting written down but I really do investigate odd little occurrences. Everything done leaves evidence of its existence, it just might not be evidence of any kind of crime. In fact, it probably isn't. I reason that doing it though is good practice. How do you think Sherlock Holmes knew the taste of obscure Egyptian remedies? I mean besides Doyle saying he did.

~O~

~O~

I glanced around at the shelves. Meticulous sorts kept things clean and therefore easier to investigate. In this case, a simple blank spot might explain where the jars had come from. Which it did, further investigation also revealed 4 shapes of clean space, roughly the size of the bases of the glasses. They had come from the top shelf, not far from the main counter.

I began pondering the possible reasons for their lack of return. I was in a dead person's space and there was always something eerie about their last days. They were here, operating, going about as they had for years and then one day they moved their last items, they worked on projects for the last time. They were and then they were not.

"She could have been using the glasses when she passed, they were out. But why did someone put them back then?" I questioned aloud. "It's too high up for them to be knocked off and then carelessly placed back. No, Occam's razor says she was using them, then, when her body was removed, someone put them on the shelf. I wonder what she was making?" I continued. I'd deduced she was likely mixing something, one jar, three bottles, each flask held a clear unmarked liquid. I had no hope of discovering what they were. It served to conclude that the contents were poured from each bottled into the jar for mixing.

The jar however had some remains of a blue glowing liquid. It reminded me of a simple formula to impress kids with, at the science museum from my home town. That likely wasn't the case here however, that liquid would have likely stopped glowing by now. "Besides, I doubt she needed some sick glow sticks" I reasoned.

"The Haruspex, a seer and a witch, this was the last thing she made. What was it?" I questioned aloud. It seemed, however, I had reached the end of the trail, without more knowledge of medicine and haruspexy I was never going to be able to determine what exactly the blue liquid was. If I searched medicine for glowing blue liquid I'd probably get all kinds of crazy results and I couldn't read the haruspexy books yet. For that, I was going to have to learn another fucking language. I'd tried that before. It was an arduous task. "Heh, maybe I can get that cut-throat language app to teach me" I joked.

**PLOT END**

* * *

~O~

~O~

~O~

I returned to my research and found the following article:

www. thoughtco how-to-make-aspirin-from-willow-608415

It outlined extracting something called Salicin but that wasn't Salicylic Acid. Or was it? Further research was needed.

Furthermore, I learned that I would need to be cautious as it should not be used in the case of a number of conditions. I would be careful to do my best to avoid these, but many were going to be hard to detect like clotting disorders. I'd have to ask about the patient's history but like a full body scan in House, it may just end up giving me too much to look at.

~O~

My next search took me here:

gramercyskincare blogs/journal/on-salicylic-acid-and-willow-bark-extract

This article detailed that the Salicin extractable from willow was not salicylic acid but that in the stomach it would become it, however for asperin, I need to oxidize it beforehand.

In my searches I had found a word; 'Oxidation', it sounded close enough but this was people's lives I was playing with so after searching on the difference:

www. quora What-is-the-difference-between-oxidation-and-oxidizing-agent-without-confusion

chem. libretexts Bookshelves/Analytical_Chemistry/Supplemental_Modules_(Analytical_Chemistry)/Electrochemistry/Redox_Chemistry/Definitions_of_Oxidation_and_Reduction

~O~

I found that there was a profound difference, they seemed to be nearly opposite processes. This eliminated the helpfulness of some of the other pages I'd opened and reviewed.

It was off task and over my head at the time but another link showed promise of how to morph salicin into other potentially useful drugs and medicines:

www. sciencedirect topics/neuroscience/salicin

~O~

The next part of converting the salicin into salicylic acid proved to be a difficult process to track down but I had a lead here:

www. henriettes-herb eclectic/potter-comp/salicin. html

~O~

Which spoke of heating salicin with caustic potash and then treating the 'mass' with hydrochloric acid. Two more ingredients I wasn't sure I could get without making them myself and a 'recipe' that in no way provided amounts, duration or temperature. I was surprised to learn however that salicylic acid was a powder.

I definitely wasn't comfortable trying to make asperin on a guess. Especially when the last site, listed some horrific side effects for over-doses. The site I then discovered listed its details from Potter, 1902: A Compend of Materia Medica. a very old book, which at times described the use of arsenic. It was another dead end.

~O~

After a few more useful sites:

www. acs content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/s/salicylic-acid. html

www. britannica science/salicylic-acid

www. lahc. edu/classes/chemistry/arias/exp-. pdf

~O~

Synthesis of Salicylic Acid requires other chemicals I may not have available, in a very modern process. Using advanced machinery, I would need to discover what these machines are doing and replicate them or find the old way to perform the same action:

www. youtube watch?v=pGWMvDHrNk0

~O~

* * *

**ASPERIN RESEARCH CONCLUSION**

I had concluded that the process to make asperin was not going to be some simple recipe to follow but a difficult chemical process, the modern process, in fact, seemed to ignore willow bark altogether, which is what I had available.

In order to achieve this, I would need to torrent some college books on the subject, the subject to whose name, I yet did not know. I would have to learn a great deal about the chemical process before I could achieve this result, I did, however, find the task to be worth the reward, not only could asperin be helpful in the future but there was a lot of money to made in it. I didn't always plan to be grassroots. Phase two of my entire plan required me to be a major captain of industry as well as a politician of some sort.

~O~

I then began to consider alternative options, maybe it already existed. I checked its date of discovery. 1938. 'Hmm, possible, not like I can just check the internet though. Where the hell would I even go to buy this stuff' I wondered.

In my search, I had also discovered that I could buy the stuff in a 55lb bag online for under $500 bucks. 'Fucking irony. Yeah, but if it were that easy they wouldn't need the damn aspirin would they.'. At least in the meantime, I had discovered an easy recipe for the old herbal elixir of salicin:

www. thoughtco how-to-make-aspirin-from-willow-608415

and

www. wikihow Make-Aspirin-if-You-Lost-in-the-Woods

~O~

~O~

(Chance: Has salicylic acid been invented: 60% chance, result: 32. It has not)

**AN:** Now I get to waste time trying to track down a lab only to discover that what I am looking for does not exist. It'll happen when my character thinks he has the time.

~O~

~O~

~O~

* * *

**END ASPERIN SCENE**

(Chance: Child to be bought in, difficulty of the disease: 21 (Oh thank God, lol, I didn't want to go through a scene where there was no way I was gonna be able to help this kid)

Disease/Symptom: 1d10, result 9 = Bacterial Sinusitis.

Race roll 33 , result: faerie, gender roll 06, result: female, Age 1d10, result: 5

Faerie, female, age 5)

~O~

~O~

**AN:** So this scene is odd because it's entirely backwards. I should be trying to discover what the kid has based on symptoms, which of course would be quite difficult. Here, however, I know the disease and have to reverse engineer the scene. It's weird but I don't have a storyteller so its the best I can do.

~O~

~O~

* * *

**RETURN TO PLOT**

The door to the shop opened just as I had temporarily given up the attempts of synthesizing aspirin for the time being. A young woman with brown hair, petite features, and those amazing faerie wings stepped in. she was wearing a long brown coat with white wool cuffs and a (child) firmly attached to her chest, cradled under one arm.

I stared in dread, it was bad enough I decided I was gonna play doctor in a shop that really wasn't mine, but my first patient could not be this, this, Cute, little girl, her tiny little wings made me wonder if she could even fly yet. She had on an adorable fluffy red jacket that seemed to envelop her up to half her cheeks and she had short Shirley Temple gold locks with a single brown strand.

Her mother nervously looked around, I sensed she felt awkward being in the old shop after what had happened.

"Hello" I greeted her warmly in an effort to disarm her concerns.

Her attention shifted over to me for the first time since she entered "Oh, Hello. You must be Brandon right?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, so you know Aine then?" I asked

"She's a friend" The woman bit her forefinger thinking on her decision.

"Child's sick?" I asked casually

"She is, I was..." She began to reply before I interrupted her

"Then don't do that." I said with a dry calm.

"Don't do what?" She questioned.

"Bite your finger" I replied, "its how disease spreads, your finger could have bacteria or viruses on it from your child because you've been looking after her. You can get what she has." I explained.

~O~

The moment I explained it could make her sick, she rapidly pulled her finger from her mouth in a quick instant.

my voice then turned chipper "and that's not what this adorable little one needs" I beamed a smile at the little one who hid inside her mother's chest away from the stranger. I then redirected my attention to the mother, who had seemed somewhat secured in her decision to come here with my expression of medical knowledge.

~O~

I started in again, to tell her the score "Look, I'm not The Haruspex, she had years of experience beyond me, but I might be the only apothecary around. On that note, if you do know another and you have the money, you should probably take her there, but if you're low on funds I won't charge you. If you can pay a little, to help me restock and maybe get by, then great, if not I understand, believe me, I've been there. Hell, I'm there right now."

The woman took it all in and nodded as I explained, she pulled her lips to the side in doubtful contemplation, but only for a second. "Well, the truth is I haven't got any money, not really, they walled us in here and things are drying up.".

I listened to her and smiled "Then you've come to the right place." I placed my hands in a steeple in front of me "Tell me about her, what are her symptoms?"

The mother thought for a moment while she compiled a list of things inside her head she'd noticed "She was sick and we gave her an old family recipe. She seemed to get better but then the cough returned, she says her throat is sore, she never seems to have any energy. She's usually quite hyper, yup, a little flyer my youngest." She panicked at her admission of flight and quickly recoursed to explain "Of course she doesn't fly around her... Heh heh," A nervous faux giggle "It's just an expression really.".

I got cold and angry, That little girl had the wings of an angel and she should be allowed to use them, to fly free, it was her natural place in the world. "Yeah, well that fucking law is bullshit" I growled out.

~O~

The mother was taken back by the sudden turn, she paused at the curses and pure unrepentant hatred.

~O~

"And I'll tell that to any person you like" I concluded.

Her eyebrows raised and she licked her inner, lower lip "Never did understand why they..."

"Jealousy and control. They can't do it and you look so majestic doing it, it just wouldn't serve if the upper class in all their fineries had the (peasant fae) fluttering about above them. That wouldn't serve the image of their superiority at all." I explained "Humans are trash. Moving on."

Her eyes widened in surprised fear "Are you saying you're not human? It's a hefty penalty for trying to 'pass.'".

I sighed "Regrettably, my dear, I am, human I mean. I should say they're not all trash. Absolom Breakspear wasn't all bad.".

She took no small amount of umbrage at that "Not bad, he was the chancellor, he's the reason we're all in this mess!" She snapped.

"Yes, the chancellor, and the head of the Commonwealth party, which regularly supported the fae. No your in this mess because some idiot decided to stab him in his home and his successor, his son, is pissed that his old man got knocked off by one of the very people he was trying to save. You all should condemn that assassin. My research shows that Absolom was probably a complicated man, but he was better for you than most other people. So was his party." I retorted confidently but not aggressively.

She listened and thought on all my words. She hadn't much kept up with the politics of Parliament. "Well, I guess I didn't know all that." she finally and quietly replied.

"Look, I didn't mean to berate you. I'm just pissed at that assassin, he really ruined shit." I apologized. "Tell me about your daughter, so, sore throat, loss of energy and a cough. What else?"

"It's been going on for five days now and I just don't know what to do for her, the old medicine doesn't seem to be doing much." She lamented.

~O~

I was in luck, I had recently had a very similar condition, it was a cold or some kind of awful flu, I'd gotten better, but then symptoms worsened. A clinic had told me it was a sinus infection but that involves thick mucus. I'd had plenty when I was younger. That and earaches but that didn't seem to apply here.

~O~

"What's her mucus look like?" I asked.

"Its this thick, yellowy stuff. I'm really worried about her, I'm sure she'll get better but what if she doesn't?". The poor woman's eyes began to tear up. Life had taken so much from her but nothing would measure up to losing her 'little flyer'.

~O~

The pressure laid into me, if I got this wrong, I could make it worse, or just waste valuable time. It seemed simple enough and by Occam's razor and the basics of car mechanics, you address the simple things first. I needed to be sure that personal experience wasn't guiding me down the wrong path.

I walked out from behind the counter to the back of the shop where supplies lined the room on shelves. "Wait there, I'll just be a moment." I said as I stepped out of her view and faced a wall away from her. I produced my phone and punched in the symptoms. 'Sore throat, cough, energy loss, thick mucus, was sick, got better now sick again.'.

First result was for Bronchitis. I had to try and rule it out. It's symptoms were; cough, mucus, sometimes with blood, fatigue, slight fever and chills, chest discomfort.

Meanwhile, a sinus infection had symptoms of postnasal drip, whatever that meant, I'd need to find out what that was, green nasal discharge, nasal stiffness, tenderness of face, under the eyes or bridge of nose, frontal headaches, pain in teeth, coughing and fever.

~O~

I looked through sites, diseases, and symptoms. Both potential diseases said they could go away in two to three weeks. I needed to start checking for some symptoms, for that, I would have to touch her and for that, I needed clean hands.

I did some more searches on soap equivalents for the 1800s. After some searching, I discovered soap had been around since 2800 BC 'Oh... I'm a fucking primitive again I thought.'.

~O~

"I'll need to see her in here, set her on the table I'll be right back." I said as I headed further back in.

~O~

Behind the old lab I was in, there was another door that lead to a stair. I would have to enter the woman's house to find her bath and therefore soap.

~O~

~O~

Behind the old lab I was in, there was another door that lead to a stair. It was tucked back in a small corridor of potions and bottles hiding beside the stove. I would have to enter the woman's house to find her bath and therefore soap.

~O~

The door creaked open as the wood rattled, it was often used but well-loved too. Behind its dark frame, lay a stair of narrow steps in a gloomy, nearly lightless corridor. I imagined that there must be endless cobwebs and spiders hanging directly overhead. I have a true fondness for arachnids but I'd still likely lose my cool if they were on my head.

The steps groaned as I rose up them. The Haruspex's home was filled with endless scents, pleasing natural aromas, chemical solutions, the charming perfume of an old woman, the lingering stain of an old folks home, formaldehyde as if from a funeral parlor and death. The hallway was far enough from each that they were faint inside and could be picked apart for what they were.

I raised my foot slowly for the next step and then lowered it down with the strength to raise my weight when instead it fell flat to the same level it had been on. My stomach gripped for a moment and I began to feel forward as I moved carefully. All visibility had been lost up here on the second floor.

~O~

"Should have brought a fucking light." I chastised myself.

~O~

After I had remembered to stop feeling around for a damn light switch, I found to my right a sturdy, beautifully carved, wooden door, that no one would ever see.

I opened the door easily and smoothly this time and found myself in a tight, short hallway of faded and torn wallpaper. It held two more portals to rooms which lay beyond. One to my left and the other to the right. The hallway abruptly ended afterwards, for what I was sure was less than the distance of the downstairs.

Telling distances in there was odd however, the whole apothecary rested at a dead end of a street entirely enclosed in buildings without alleys. It shared its North wall with an abandoned shop or residence of some nature. It's exterior South wall ended at the edge of the corner, forming the alley. I wasn't sure if the second floor extended past that corner, or if the neighbor's house did instead.

I was certain the first floor did not exceed that boundary, but the space above might not have been identical. I later discovered that It roughly was identical except that my bath protruded above the Southern residence's main floor and that my entry was beneath my Northern neighbor's second floor.

~O~

I tried the East door first, what rested in stillness inside, was a dimly lit room of blacks and blues. Cerulean curtains hanged lifelessly before old settled windows, whose glass rippled like waves in a pond.

The bed was in an almost a violet-indigo. The sheets had been made carefully. Aoife was indeed a woman who well cared for her home. I imagined her waking up her last morning and making this bed, which there it still sat. She took the time and pulled the covers over and tucked them under the pillows as she must have a hundred mornings before, but the frivolity of it. She would never see this room again, a few minutes wasted against the precious hand full of hours she had left, never to know she was wasting her time.

I then recalled that she was a seer, that she may well have known this was to be her last morning and that perhaps, for her, there was a comfort in the mundane rituals she had held in life. A final goodbye to the life she had known. I finished paying my somber respects to the old Haruspex and set about finding the soap.

The door closed gently behind me as I turned to check its twin. Passing through the door I found the living room. Like the rest of the house, it's walls were lined in shelves, which held various supplies one might have described as cluttered, except for their organization.

The same sedate curtain covered the two windows in here, I could see from out front the shop.

Slid back against the wall was an orchid couch of some stylish character. The back of the seat was embedded with long diamond tufting. Its fabric had been bright and sheening, at some point in it's forgotten history.

Looking about I found two more doors, one was almost hidden in front of the couch and the supplies on shelves. It lead back behind the dead end in the corridor previous. I figured that, given its uncomfortable access, that it must be a closet of some supply but that unless it was huge, it backed into a closet in the bedroom. Recalling the bedroom's asymmetrical shape with an outcropped wall to my left, the North, it indeed likely did have its own closet.

This all meant that the door against the South wall must be the bathroom.

~O~

The bathroom door opened and only light from the window behind me illuminated it. There was a porcelain sink, which by today's standards would be considered fashionable. Aine's sink wasn't much different, it was just the way they were made here. An ivory plinth leading into a shaped porcelain bowl. Beyond it lay a similarly designed toilet and bath.

The sink conveniently held a pearly green soap bar, which I promptly used with a medical professional's diligence.

~O~

After having washed my hands I returned to the room below. The little girl sat impatiently kicking her legs back and forth asymmetrically on the table. Her hands made tiny fists. 'Mommies little ball of fuss' I mused to myself.

I moved over in front of her mimicking the bedside manner I'd seen in some of the better doctors with it I'd met. "Hello there," I said with a big smile. "My name is Brandon, I'm gonna try and figure out what's wrong here. Ok?" I politely asked her.

She nodded firmly with an adorable little frown in a tone of 'Alright soldier. Do. What. You. Must'. She held my heart in her hands.

I looked to her mother to get her approval. After a pause, the woman nodded. "Let's start with the easy stuff." I said with a slow chipper.

I held her head gently in my hands and began to push my thumbs carefully into her cheeks, under and around her eyes. As I started she looked to her mom with all the expression of 'MOM! What's this bozo doing!?'. Then she began to pull away. 'A-ha! Discomfort, now we were getting somewhere!'.

I updated my current mental list of symptoms; sore throat, lasted five days, thick yellow mucus, fatigue, cough, came after an illness and now sinus discomfort

It having come after an illness, was nothing definitive, it could have been circumstantial or due to a weakened immune system. that detail had to be ignored. Also, it having lasted five days was nothing to go by either. Practically every disease did that. I could rule a disease out if it never lasted that long though.

With the sinus discomfort, I was moving towards sinus infection and away from Bronchitis but I wanted to rule it out further. Sometimes, I believed, a patient could avoid a symptom or two.

I placed my hand to her forehead and waited. Her mother watched me carefully, it made me wonder if my technique was close to what she was used to. My hand, if anything felt cold against her head. Nothing serious, just the chill of the outside air.

"Has she had a fever since the recurrence?" I asked her mother, turning to face her.

"No. We'll I should say not that I've noticed." She replied thinking on it.

"Me either." I concluded.

"Is that a good sign?" She asked hopefully

"It's a sign. Neither necessarily good nor bad, but it does help me track down what I'm looking at. I don't think..." I paused myself, false hope was an awful thing, but so was fearing for your child "I don't think this is serious.".

Before I concluded she let out a large sigh of relief "Oh thank you..." She praised.

That hurt. I felt like shit because I really didn't know yet and now if I was wrong I'd be the one to have to tell her. It became very obvious why doctors didn't tell the patient much and worked in uncertain terms. I'd tried to do that, but it felt as though I failed. "I'm really not sure yet, please, don't get too excited, but usually a simpler answer will do over a more complex one." I told her.

She nodded quietly at my words and resumed her state of hopeful worry, though it had been reduced.

"Alright," I said as I prepared for an uncomfortable part of the examination. "I need to open her jacket and check her chest." I told the mother as professionally as I could.

She nodded silently granting me permission. I, as casually as I could manage, undid the buttons on her little red jacket. She turned to her mother uncertain and I could hear her mother whisper "It's ok sweety, he's a physician."

'Hardly... but I play one on TV' I thought.

With her coat opened, I pushed gently around on her ribs, over where I'd imagined the lungs to be. She didn't seem to react much.

"Alright" I started happily "Can you turn your head?" I asked her. The little girl turned towards her mother. "Probably best to go the other way sweety." She looked at me with little fussy disdained eyes.

"Go ahead little one, look away, please. For mother?" Her mother pleaded to her and the 'little flyer' did as she was asked.

"Alright, now what I want you to do is give me a big hard cough!" I asked her as if it were a game. I pressed my hands semi-firmly against her as she did.

A moment later there was a 'big' cough from the little one.

"Did that hurt" I chimed to her.

She turned back and shook her head 'no' and then held, she tilted her head to the side and gave me a grumpy little face that said 'If it was supposed to hurt then why did you have me do it!?' I could only respond in a similar expression of 'Weeeelllll...' with no good answer.

So, no chest pain. Bronchitis is out. What about a sinus infection then? She was supposed to have a fever for that, but I wanted it to be missing something else before I ruled it out. Toothache was kinda weird on its list of symptoms, maybe there was something in there.

I smiled at her "Can you say 'ahhhhh'" I said opening my mouth real wide. She did as I asked this time with no trouble. "Right, well don't bite me ok?" I begged her. She nodded in response "Or else they'll have to call me Brandon-nine-fingers" I teased her, which had finally produced more than fuss, but an actually little giggle. However brief.

I reached in and gently grabbed one of her teeth shaking on it carefully. I released having seen no real sign of pain "Ok, did that hurt at all?" I asked her.

"Why do you keep doing it if it's supposed to hurt!" She yelled at me, in English this time.

I resisted the urge to give the immediate response of "Because I'm a sadist" quoted from a Sci-fi channel movie with Bruce Campbell. No one likes my gallows humor.

"I know, its really not fun but if I know what hurts I can help you." I explained. This did lead to another problem however, I was out of potential causes.

"Wait here a tic ok?" I asked the both of them as I stepped to the back staircase again. I didn't bother going up, I just needed a secret place to consult the all knowing internet. I tried search after search with my list of symptoms. Sinus infection was the only thing that lined up, she didn't have the toothache though and more worryingly she didn't have a fever. It's possible the fever was down at the moment but it seemed unlikely her mother would have missed it. I considered it a bit longer. 'How could she have missed it? It's the first thing a mother checks for.'.

Suddenly I sprang back from the closet and walked up to her mother. "Are you sick?" I asked her. I was feeling like Dr. fucking House at this moment.

"No, why" she questioned.

I reached my hand out and grabbed her's rather quickly but not forcefully. It felt warm to me, almost hot. "You share your bed?" I asked her trying to get to the meat of the situation, then I saw the look of astonished rage coming over her. Fuck I really was House. "I mean, is there someone you sleep with at night."

She calmed partially considering the question "My husband, why?" I had, at this point, really befuddled her.

"Does he tend to move away from you in the night?" I asked unapologetically.

"I suppose, yes. Where is this going?" she snapped.

"Your temperature runs hot, you didn't notice her fever because it'd have to be a hundred and sixty before you could feel anything but cold. She's got a fever." I turned to the little one releasing mom's hand "You been hot at night?" I asked her. She nodded. 'Shoulda just asked the kid' I reasoned.

"I'll be right back." I said as I headed to the stairwell again in a hurry. I was on to this, I just might have the answer. Now it was time for solutions. I did find an herbal suggestion on one site

www. healthline health/cold-flu/sinus-infection-symptoms#treatment

But it warned against making the concoction yourself because it had unpleasant side effects. Allergies, diarrhea.

~O~

a further search of 'herbal recipe for sinus infection' revealed a site

food. ndtv health/7-powerful-home-remedies-for-sinus-that-bring-relief-naturally-1451706

with several recipes, I would prescribe her a few, I figured.

~O~

I entered back into the room with an air of confidence. "Alright," I announced as I headed to the desk to grab a piece of parchment and the Haruspex's ink quill. I carefully dipped the pen in the ink, held it out and watched the ink. When it seemed to not be gooped up in the needle, I began writing.

"You will need to keep her plenty hydrated. I want you to boil the water first and then let it cool. She has a sinus infection, and what we are trying to do, is clear her nasal passageways to get it out and let the body heal her." I continued to explain as I wrote, pausing for a moment to look up at her mother, who was listening carefully but didn't seem to follow everything I was saying. "We want her mucus to come out" I elaborated.

"Ok, I want you to give her one fourth a teaspoon of horseradish pepper three times a day, evenly spaced out. So one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night. You need to grate it freshly. Have her hold it in her mouth for a few minutes. Once the taste is gone, she can swallow it. She won't like it, that's to be expected, but watch the coloration of her tongue, if it reddens or appears inflamed stop the treatment and see me immediately.

Next, I want her to take 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, 3 times a day. Also, space it out. She can take it before or after the horseradish or spaced out more if it's too hard on her.

I have a third treatment, but I need to distill the water to make it, you'll have to come back later. I may have it by this evening, or tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

If her symptoms worsen, change or persist without reducing at all over the next three days, come back and see me" I explained as I wrote down all of the recipes.

I then walked over to the supplies and broke off a small amount of horseradish root. I handed it to her mother along with my first official prescription.

She stood astonished at the skill and rapid pace of my concluding display. "How do I repay you?" She asked finally after a moment's pause.

"You take care of your little flyer there" I smiled "And tell everyone else about me. Tell them if they can pay, I do need to eat and restock supplies, but if they can't, this is a free clinic and not to be ashamed." I said proudly.

She nodded and thanked me several more times before stepping out, which felt amazing. I only hoped I had been right. The worry was gonna keep me up at night, I just knew it.

'It was the sinus infection, in the little girl's nose with the mucus stick' I mused as if to be playing Clue.

"Next I'll pull a stick out of someone's ass and be like 'see, it's not lupus!'"

~O~

~O~

~O~

I had sat in the shop a time longer and now was on to researching the Ghetto situation, and how to deal with it. I was quickly gaining favor in the society, and so, I would soon have the respect I needed.

The situation was, as I reviewed newspapers and historic events from my world, not really all that much like the Nazi take over of Germany. This was more bittersweet and not all bitter. I'd had ideas on how to conduct guerilla warfare against the enemy. My favorite plan had been to spread rumors that we intended to attack the Northern Burgue across each bridge simultaneously. We'd pester them from the windows of buildings nearby, using guns we may have been able to steal. It all depended on what was built at the factory in Carnivale Row, or if we could sneak across the river to steal from the North.

They had invented cable here for communication, I knew there would be a way to change its signal to detonate bombs, it was just a matter of figuring out how and whether anyone here knew how to make them. I knew of some possible options, such as The Anarchist Cookbook, but I had been told that those recipes were false and would only get you killed. Wasn't sure how I felt about that but it wasn't worth the risk.

Anyways, with their forces lined up on the bridge, readying to make their assault or defend against ours I could simply blow the bridge and then use boats and wing to cross the gap. Faeries would act as the marines to hold the beach as the rest of the fae army moved up into position.

They would take immediate positions in households and buildings to limit the effectiveness of the enemy's rifles. If by that point, we'd not been able to secure rifles, I could send them into the water to collect them from the soldiers we'd just killed.

If sewers crossed the river than I could lead invasions in from underground. If they'd forgotten to block the sewers, only thinking of fae as flying creatures, then we could have carefully laid explosives beneath their armories and factories to go off when the bridges did. Any soldiers preparing for the encounter would be destroyed and any remaining would be devoid of supply or armaments.

But all of this created an inevitable problem with Phase Two of my plan. The recapture of Tiernanoc. Even if I had been god-like in my battle strategy against the enemy force and completely captured the city, I was then facing the issue of occupying enemy territory with a smaller force, against likely a larger number of remaining soldiers and a populace that hated us completely.

Attempting to convince them that they were a bunch of bastards, and it was their duty to help make right what they'd made wrong and recapture Tiernanoc, was laughably impossible, especially at that point.

The battle and capture of The Burgue was a difficult task, to say the least, and that was assuming I could somehow train the benevolent fae into becoming bloodthirsty warriors. Then have them stop the killing, once we'd won, despite the obvious occasional shooting or military action, as we held the city, costing fae lives, instead of just exterminating the Burguish.

What was worse or rather impossible was convincing any kind of co-existence after it was done. If this had been Nazi Germany, that would have been possible because many Germans would have been sympathetic to Jewish uprising at some point. The Nazis were a smaller number than the majority of the populace, and I think many were sick of them.

It simply was, that here, the local government had not yet been cruel enough to the fae for any kind of significant number to approve of a fae coup d'état.

Like killing the Chancellor before, this would only further sever pre-existing good relations. No, we needed another strategy. I had been looking at revolutionary leaders like Che' Guverra for tactics and information. Despite how much I hated that bastard, I couldn't deny that what he'd done was a difficult task and he was; successful. Too bad he decided to replace it with yet another corrupt government and then proceeded to execute countless people for whatever reason they deemed acceptable.

I needed a different influential figure to model this peaceful revolution after. Then I began to make comparisons to another time in world history, when the man of the hour was none of than Martin Luther King Jr.

His efforts gained public support, he swayed the people and helped a nation open its eyes to the acts of its own cruelty. I already had sympathizers, I just needed to get them back. I needed them to see the fae the way I did, to believe that we could, in fact, all get along.

For that, there were two first steps, one was for the fae to publicly condemn the assassination of Chancellor Absolom Breakspear and the second was something I had devised all my own, to show their hearts and humanity. A beautiful fae vigil, humans invited, leading from the ghetto to the graveyard where Absalom had been buried, complete with mourning, signing, candles, the works. It would be a true show of force and the undeniable beauty of the 'human' spirit.

~O~

~O~

~O~

I had sat and read and researched on my idea for sometime when I began to hear a commotion outside. It sounded like fighting or screaming and I had nearly leapt over the counter to attend it but then my heart calmed.

I had jumped to such sounds a million times before, it'd always been nothing. I fell asleep on a third-story balcony once, I was used to climbing it's external support structure up and down, when I'd heard an awful, woman's scream. I nearly killed myself leaping off the edge when I awoke, trying to go and help her. I had forgotten to grab hold of the rail before I lept off and only by fast reflexes and a miracle, did I grab the rail and save myself from a three-story plummet.

All because of a more emotional, than physical, domestic fight. They were going through a break-up, she wasn't taking it well.

~O~

I listened a bit more and I could hear what I thought sounded like angry yelling, screaming. It was too much. I ran around the counter and headed for the door. I flung the old wooden door open, my heart now racing to look into the street.

I saw a group of constables gathered around something and they were raising their clubs and striking downward laughing and shouting as they did. Then I heard the scream again. A young teen male, he sounded afraid and in pain.

I flew into a blind run, emotion having overloaded the senses. I shoulder rushed the crowd as I screamed in rage "GET OFF OF HIM!".

There was a pause when I looked down to see a young male faun, one eye swollen shut and bleeding, look back up at me and then I saw the first swing of a constable's club, in a downward strike.

A light history of martial arts training saw me raise my hand to block his arm, I moved with what felt like lightning speed. His wrist caught with mine and his hand bent releasing the club, which had caught my lip as it flew down. I wouldn't notice that strike until sometime later.

Rage hit me like a freight train, but before I could put it to use I suddenly fell. I didn't understand why. I saw another club come to me from the side with only enough time to know it was going to hurt. I tried to rise up, to block incoming attacks and disarm my opponents. Each hit filled me with more rage, quickly, however, the pain began to take its toll.

My forearms pained to the bone and grew weak from covering endless attacks. Next, I took a skull shattering hit, sound faded away into an endless high pitched ringing. I saw faces of shock and delight. Inside, I could hear a voice scream at me to be a badass and kill these fucks, its wails, however, were being lost under the crashing waves of pain and soon despair.

frantic thoughts raced through my mind 'This is happening?!', 'When will it stop?', Am I going to die here?' 'KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL, find one, gouge his eyes out, wear his blood and twist his head off. Show the others, make them fear, make them die!' 'What was I thinking, I can't do this. I'm a failure, I was never going to change anything, just another casualty.'.

I felt as though I couldn't see from one of my eyes and as if my temples were bleeding on the inside, a hot trickle of watery pain ran down my right... or was it my left side?

Soon I was huddled in a ball trying to cover my head and chest. My ribs lit up in sudden agony and repetitively. I could hear myself starting to scream, I was screaming in pain and begging them to stop. I couldn't get control of my words, despite how much I hated saying them, I just kept screaming "Please stop!". I heard my voice tremble and I realized I was going to die. I began to sob as I mourned my pitiful existence, I had never been the hero, I never made it rich or things got better. I just died, here in the street.

My thoughts wandered to little miss flying fuss. 'You. were worth it.' I thought. The pain faded away as darkness settled in.

~O~

~O~

~O~


	7. Chapter 7: A Heart of Darkness is Unleas

**Chapter 7: A Heart of Darkness is Unleashed**

~O~

~O~

~O~

Pain. Pain was the first thing I felt, bone-crushing and broken pains. Searing and burning pains, nausea set in quickly as I began to take notice. My fingers became known to me by the searing agony in them. I tried to open my eyes and one stung instantly and refused to move, I could feel dried blood and scabs shift on it.

I heard myself let out a hushed, hurtful moan. I got my other eye to open independently, against its swollen tissue, so that I could see through in a squint. The room was darkly lit or maybe it was night and I was still outside.

I could hear voices and a light cough about, they were all quiet. I stared down at my fingers and what I saw startled me. I released faint ghostly howls of disbelief. My pinky and ring finger on my right hand didn't look right. They were twisted and bent back, the skin bulged outwards in sickening bumps.

"Ohh... Ohh nooo" I could hear myself whimper out. Short breaths began pumping through my lungs. I tried to sit up pulling the side of my head from a cold concrete floor and sticky coagulated blood held my hair down to it, then hurt struck without warning. I gave up and lay back down.

I had been curled in the fetal position, bleeding all over some sickly stone floor, in what felt like a dark basement. There was a notable pool of blood from me and as I saw it, it all hit me. The reality of my situation, the injuries throughout my body, the blood I had lost.

The nausea took full swing and I began to convulse, my body wanted to cough, to sneeze up blood and vomit all at once.

I started coughing, it was interrupted by a lump in my throat and then a convulsion in my stomach. All of my chest and stomach tightened and pulled on broken ribs in a sudden heave of regurgitation. The sick expelled from my esophagus and spilled out onto the floor in a pool around my mouth.

The horrible burn in my nose then forced me into a sudden explosive sneeze. Muscles pulled and contracted, broken and bleeding parts all over me we're disturbed by the powerful forced movement. The eviction of my nose dragged vomit from my mouth up to my nasal pages in a burning agony. The acidic stench of puke filled my nose and mixed with the metallic scent of drying blood.

I laid there on the ground with the sick beside me, touching my lips. Too hurt to move to get away from the permeating burn of my own vomit, despair set in, I wished I hadn't woken up at all. I began whimpering quietly at the only volume I could manage.

There really wasn't a God was there? None of this made sense, my entire life hadn't made any sense. I hurt and my sinuses burned with disease settling in. I recalled how I'd gotten here. Two years ago I'd lost my job as a janitor in trade for a house, from my church when it had 'merged' with another church for financial reasons. Really, the other pastor just took over and was in it all for the money. I was fired inside of 6 months and I lost my home. Within another 6 months my parents, employees of over 20 years and endless work put in for free, were also fired.

I bounced around trying to get jobs, first I tried to sell vacuums for Kirby, which I was great at but the boss was a controlling dick so I left to put to use my CDL-A. I had gotten it as part of a state program 11 years earlier. In the process of getting it, I knew I was never meant to be a trucker, but it was all I had left. I had put my things in safe storage, for two years I tried to make ends meet and finally buy a house, so I could move out and pursue my artistic goals once again.

Then the portal or transport here happened and inside of three days, I had been beaten to near death in a world whose medicine could never heal me. I would probably die of illness and internal bleeding within the week if not by some other complication.

I layed there and sobbed quietly. Such passion and fury was in me, doomed to be trapt in this worthless form and die unrealized. Thoughts of pure darkness went through my head while I struggled to hang on, to not fade away in here.

'Perhaps I could synthesize a virus' I thought. 'Here in this world no one could find or stop me and I could use my savings to take the college courses online. I could create a plague and kill everything on this planet. I could end all life in my vicious revenge.'.

While I humored such vile action, I also lay and wept and hurt and knew I would never be successful. I was never successful, not at anything. A pointless existence was to be mine. I had a mind of potential but it would be wasted, as I would live to serve and never be seen to do more.

Fear and suicide loomed over me like a black shroud upon the dead. I had been in jail once before, if indeed that's what this was. In my first few hours, I had used the blanket they gave me and my knowledge of textiles to extract a section of it, which I'd then tied around my neck to strangle myself, while I hid my head and body under the remaining blanket.

I had no strength against crippling depression and rage in times of horrific despair. I had only stopped because I had imagined my then-girlfriend crying over my corpse and I felt I would have betrayed her. Ironically, she turned out to be an emotionless sociopath and the relationship ended after two years with her cheating on me and then just never contacting me anymore. I'd been homeless then too, due to my efforts to maintain the relationship and other stupid things I did surrounding it.

~O~

I left my dark thoughts for a time to look once more around the room. Bars sat beyond me in a hexagonal room of cold wet brick. I could smell nothing but my own sick and blood, however, I did imagine its scent to be musty. Each section of the hexagon was its own cage. The cage I could see held various fae whose faces all looked dejected. Some had been watching me, I wasn't sure but it felt like they cared. It was nice to think someone cared.

My cage, however, had three or so humans in dark clothes pacing about. Each with gruff faces and scruff. Quick flashes ran through my mind of violence upon them. I ripped one's head around, the cracking bones muffled by the meat of his neck. The next I punched in the throat unexpectedly, his windpipe forced closed and gagging. My fingers burrowed into his eyes and I howled "DIE YOU WORTHLESS SHIT! DIE!". The last I thrust kicked the knee backward, a graphic crunch of muscle rending horror sounded forth. With my weight into the backwards knee, I dragged him to the ground. I began slamming his head off the stone as the skull fractured and blood slipped from his head in thin spurts. I smashed and smashed it, feeling the intensity and force of each strike and the insatiable rage. "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!" I screamed as I persisted in the murderous violence against his corpse. And then there they stood, pacing about, as I lay on the cold stone floor discovering new terrible pains I hadn't noticed before, each heartbeat pulsed blood through me, swelling the damaged areas and igniting them in fiery agony.

I wasn't being rational, darkness had taken swift hold of me and now all I wanted was to be a monster. To spread fear and misery amongst my intended victims. I wanted to wash over the world like a sickness that took from them their joy and security and left them broken and dying, holding the withered corpses of their children while they cried and begged for a light, but deep inside knew that it would be a never-ending night that had befallen them.

"I will have my revenge." I promised myself as I had so many times before. It never came though, it was empty words from an impotent man who would one day yet again find reason and forgiveness in his heart and let the actions pass for the supposed betterment of his future, but it never really paid off. It never really was worth the forgiveness and the forgetting. I would only go on to the next awful point in my life, where the next bully would stomp on me and hurt me in some way, or take from me, and the process would begin anew. Darkness and curses of revenge and contemplation of turning to dark forces or monstrous actions and then reason and forgiveness and then forgetting.

Each time only served to remind me of how pathetic I was and how there would never be any justice for me. I did not easily subscribe to the idea that God would send his children to eternal damnation. In fact, I largely felt that while he existed, in order for free will to function he had to stay uninvolved. After all, where was the lure of being evil if God just came out and smote the wicked whence ever they rose?

No, I did not believe God, who loved his children could destroy them. I even felt the punishment was too severe. There hadn't before been a person who wronged me, that if God had asked me what should be done with them I would say; 'cast them into the pit of fire.'. It was too extreme, when what I really wanted was justice, even in parts given. If you had cost me 10% of my paycheck intentionally then I wanted you to lose 10% of yours.

It was the repetitive abuse and the inability to redeem myself, the lack of justice that made me long for something darker. It was the struggle and how each person had made it harder or worse and cost me more years of my life from what I wanted to spend my life doing. A finite amount of time when I would be the one, whole, me. The dirt and evil upon my soul would be divided as I entered the gates of heaven, where such things could not exist and so the real me, the true me, would die. Only a part of me would live on. They were taking from me that ephemeral time and there would be no consequences.

~O~

A whole world of thought and hurt and despair existed there in my mind on that floor, as I lay for mental eons, cursing all of existence, lamenting my life, feeling crushing levels of self-doubt, that I felt I would never return from, wondering if I would ever truly be whole again? would my fingers work once more? would I even survive? What would happen next? Would I finally know how I was going to die?

I had pondered and thought and felt and grieved and hurt. I spit and cough blood, I sneezed in titanic pains, I hurt and I wanted it to end but I dared not move. I was a husk of broken and pulsing flesh trapping inside, a philosophical and dangerous mind.

Somewhere in there, I had mercifully passed out, perhaps several times. Time and reality were but distant concepts to me as that harsh floor became my entire universe. Nothing beyond its hard, frigid, wet stone existed. I existed in a world all my own and while it was filled with horror and dread mixed with agony and loneliness, I felt finally, at times, at peace there. An empty world. It was mine. It was finally mine.

~O~

I had been awoken by a sound which I could not understand or recognize but it had begun to make me take the arduous journey away from my personal realm where I ruled supreme in an endless void.

"OH No... No no no no"

What was this thing that beckoned me, that awoke the great and terrible dragon of rage and darkness from its eternal slumber?

"Bruhanon... Can you hear me?"

There would be death for this insolence, I would fill every crevice of the void with its blood.

"Oh please, please say something!"

I could hear the foolish creature cry. "Yes... Cry before the destroyer of your god, you weak and pathetic thing, for when I awaken your children will burn in the fires of your deeds and you will watch as I devour your world and life vacates you in the void" I had muttered out from my triumphant throne of death.

The pain began to return, I coughed in convulsions of aching agony. The moaning and hurt began again. I had left the void to return to what was regrettably real. I peered from my eye to Aine's crying face.

"Aine..." I moaned out.

"Yes!" She cried back to me through her tears and raspy throat "I'm here, I've got you now, your coming home ok?" I could hear her chest convulse as she said the words.

~O~

I felt myself be lifted as hurt tore across me, they tried to be gentle but there was nothing for it. I moaned and twisted trying to lessen the pain. I blinked and we were upstairs, I blinked again as we passed a constable, I reached out with my left hand whose fingers still worked. I caught his sleeve and pulled him in. Immediately I could hear voices try to explain my actions but in a moment of pure consciousness, my eye peered into his.

"The gods have entered Valhalla" I growled at him in a cold tone. It was my curse, it was my promise of revenge. I had referenced Alien: Covenant which had ended with a megalomaniacal monster in control of hundreds of humans to whom he would subject tremendous horrors.

There would be no forgiveness this time.

~O~

~O~

~O~


	8. Chapter 8: To Heal the Damned

**Chapter 8: To heal the Damned**

~O~

~O~

~O~

I was carried through the streets on the arms of two men, their age or species I couldn't or cared to determine. As I moved, my face pulsed with surging blood sending fierce pain through the busted vessels, bruising and sinuses. My legs wanted to curl up back into the balled position I had been in on the floor, the one they had beaten me in. The worst pain, however, came from my ribs as my weight stretched them apart. The muscle wanted to contract, to hold them close and protect them and as my lower body pulled on them, they tried harder and so they strained themselves in a vain effort of tremendous discomfort.

After what had felt like eons we had, at last, arrived at Aine's pub. I can remember thinking to myself that 'this too will pass' that it would end and be but a memory at some point. This time however held the promise of leaving me broken, never to be the same again. I recall slow tears and mental anguish at the thought of being physically broken, permanently. I had so little left, the hope of having my body function at some capacity as it once had in high school was one of the few things that kept me going. I imagined I would get workout equipment and train myself back into shape once I'd had a house to do that in. Now those hopes were slipping away.

Instead, I would be cane or wheelchair-bound in some way and never move right again, I would continue to gain weight as my body deteriorated into old age. Along with my body, any hope of a fulfilling relationship died with it. It left me to contemplate if my hopes of revenge were enough to live for or if I would instead prefer to die quietly.

'So. Close... To. Splendor.' I lamented.

~O~

We had reached the upstairs and I saw Aine coming towards me with scissors, her face looked horrid. Such visible, emotional pain. 'I must really look like shit' I joked to myself. It was the first positive thing I had thought or done since my attack began. It had angered me to think positively after so much hurt. I re-aligned myself with my despair and rage. If I were to go for revenge, they would have to suffer the worst, darkest, most horrible ends I could conjure for them. I would spend, perhaps years, deciding their fates.

Aine took the scissors and as carefully as she could began pulling my shirt away from me. The congealed and drying blood stuck it to me. It pulled and stretched and cracked as she stretched the shirt out.

"No..." I begged her in a raspy moan.

"No? No, what? The shirt? It's got ta go, All of it's got ta go" She explained softly. Her head leaned to the side as her face showed me deep regretful sympathy.

"It's.. All, I have. Left" I pleaded in strained words. "Take it off me."

"Oh no, no no no. That'll hurt ya, that'll hurt so bad, just let me cut it off, we'll buy ya new things ya?" She gently tried to convince me.

All I could do to make my argument was say "Please.".

"He's delirious." The male to my left justified.

"Fuck you..." I muttered out in response as I began to try and remove my shirt, I wrestled against their arms which had been holding mine to support me. It hurt unprecedentedly but I just wasn't having it, I didn't care anymore, they weren't taking my fucking shirt.

"Stop... just Stop! You Stop It Right Now Ya Hear Me!" Aine shouted at me as I attempted to reach the first button.

"Oh for fuck's sake you stubborn arse" She nipped as she slammed the scissors down on her sink.

'Oh, we're in the bathroom, huh' I thought.

"There, are ya happy now, they're down. I got rid of the FUKIN scissors" She snapped. "You boys help me undress this idiot" She commanded them.

Pain protected me in-part from the indignity of being undressed by two strangers in front of the girl I had been falling for and lying to myself about it. If there had been any hope with her, this was going to see that done. I look like total shit naked. The coat and dark clothes hide me, not that I wear them for that reason but it is very convenient.

~O~

After a painful and embarrassing few minutes, I was undressed to all but my boxers standing in front of a girl and two strangers. "Oustanding" I joked, I had to combat the awkward.

"Alright, help me get'em in the tub and then I can take care of the rest ya?" Aine said to the strangers.

They lifted me with little more sound than grunts of effort as they lowered my feet into the tub.

I watched and looked to Aine, I imagined the cleaning that was to come and began shaking my head 'no' at her. Speech had quickly followed "No. no. no. Don't. please." I begged her.

"I know, I know" she assured me "I'll be very gentle, ok, I'll take good care of ya but it has to happen. Ok?" There was such sympathy and sadness in her voice. she cared so deeply for me.

I nodded to her in a reluctant silent agreement as they finished positioning me in the tub.

~O~

I must have passed out in the tub because the next thing I noticed was that Aine and I were alone. She had a steaming ceramic bowl of water and a sponge. The way I looked at that sponge must've given away my gripping dread because she started to reason with me.

"Ok, This'll hurt but I'll be as gentle as I can be. You got your way with the bloody fukin' shirt and pants but now yer gonna behave and let me clean ya." She spoke calmly but sternly with me.

"Soak it." I tried to request of her.

"Well yea, the sponge's got ta be wet..." She replied 'obviously'.

"No. Let the water soak the scabs and blood, loosen them, then pull away." I had managed to get out in a slow pained but complete sentence.

Aine nodded a few times in agreement "Got ya, yea I can do that.".

~O~

She took the sponge over me and let the water sit for a time as she moved to the next area. I watched as thick red streams ran towards the drain at a slow steady pace.

When she began to rub the sponge over me I tried in vain not to protest too much but I had ended up moaning and swearing plenty. We stopped at occasional intervals when I couldn't bear the pain any longer only for her to eventually get me to agree to start again.

The cleaning took, in reality, an hour but it had seemed like days. As she rang the sponge out for what certainly seemed the last time I released a sigh of relief. She then reached over and grabbed a glass jar of clear liquid.

"No, please, oh god no." I shook my head 'no' as frantically as the pain would let me "No, I can't. I can't do it."

Aine looked at me with a deep understanding and sadness "You know damn well that I have ta, that you have ta. If we don't and I bandage ya up like ya are then infection will set in and you'll die within the week." She explained calmly.

"you. live. in, the FUCKING DARK AGES!" I yelled at her, it was a horrible outburst and I felt terrible on it immediately.

She stood unphased by my words and nodded as she took a prolonged swallow "Are ya done?" She asked.

"Apparently fucking not." I said gesturing to the rubbing alcohol. "I am sorry though.".

"Don't think I don't understand, ya hurt and its more than just the wounds, its yer pride, and dignity too." she said, excusing my reactions.

~O~

Next, she took that shit and gently, lovingly created intolerably keen stings in every fucking damaged and broken area of my body. I had screamed and breathed hard, clenching my teeth and swore less like a sailor and more like a high school student high on cocaine. Finally, after insurmountable pain, it was over. She'd cleaned me.

My boxers were done, stained in blood and alcohol, soaking wet and I think I fucking pissed the things at some point. Either when I was unconscious or being beaten, I couldn't tell and I didn't care.

I had removed them and she allowed me to rinse myself while she kept her back to me. Later she fetched a sheet to, heh, protect my 'modesty' whatever of that was left. Then Aine helped me rise up from the Bathtub of Perpetual Torture and took me to her bed.

I felt as though I could move in some ways but my fingers we're still broken backwards and the best I could manage was a hobble that all my body protested against.

~O~

Aine laid me in her bed and pulled the covers over me so carefully. "Alright, I have to go now, I need ta get ya help for yer fingers."

I listened and dreaded to tell her what I feared was the truth, I forced myself to anyways. "Aine, I, I think." I forced myself to say it "I think I'm gonna die.".

She gave an instant pause to her every action and then shook her head "Nooo, it just seems that way, it's bad but it's not that bad." she nodded her head positively "You'll be ok." there was a startled worry to her voice.

I listened, she was making this so hard "No. There's a thing. It's called; internal bleeding. It means shit inside, your organs, their bleeding. It's really bad. I don't think your world has the means to save me." A long silent moment passed as she took it, in before I finished "I don't even think mine does."

There was mournful sorrow to her but behind it deep determination to not see my prediction come to pass "I'll go to Mima Sawsaan. She'll know what to do." She said defiantly before she turned and headed for the door.

~O~

I laid there in her soft bed. Comforting, clean sheets surrounding me as I thought on what had happened. The future was terribly uncertain, when Aine was around I didn't feel the darkness inside as strongly, the thing I had in past times named 'The Monster'. That side of me gripped by passionate desire for revenge, enjoyably at the cost of any evil.

With her gone, the creature inside grinned, revealing its pearly teeth as we plotted our path to revenge and how horrible we would make it. This beast of retribution had been given a voice inside of me now that it had never had before, it was so much stronger and realer to me.

My sanity had taken a plunge, even beyond what it had suffered over much of my life. I had never had so much power taken from me in a single instance that truly outlined how impotent I really was. The gaping hole of power removed demanded to be filled. It had to be replaced, recovered from the thieves who'd taken it.

This could only be done in revenge, they had to be shown that their actions we're highly regrettable. They had to pay for what they had taken from me. The Monster and I delighted in our favorite, most horrific concept for revenge. It was by far the worst thing we could imagine doing to a person.

~O~

~O~

**AN: **I omit this 'concept for revenge' because it is far too twisted to be released into the world, to be shared with others, that someone might actually decide to do it to another person and I would in part be responsible for the possibility.

~O~

~O~

It was a horror of unimaginable torment, inescapable in any way, it removed suicide and all manner of choice from the equation, certain to cause catatonic insanity with a week's time yet never truly end until their final breath.

We sharpened our claws at the amusement of putting such darkness on our abusers.

~O~

~O~

~O~


	9. Chapter 9: Hands of Gold

**Chapter 9: Hands of Gold**

~O~

~O~

~O~

They raised their clubs, I watched in helpless terror as I was smashed to the ground. I screamed and begged as an endless wave of black batons descended down upon me in a cacophony of pain. I reached up and tried to fight back, but watched only as my fingers were struck and smashed backwards, I couldn't lower my arm. Blow after blow my digits were bent and broken, bleeding as bone protruded. They broke from my hand like a wax figurine's.

A sudden sound sent the covers flying from my body as I screamed, first in fear and rage and then it transformed into a whimper from the crippling hurt of moving, especially so wildly.

~O~

Aine rushed over to me quickly "It's alright, it's alright. I'm here.". Her eyes held fresh tears in them for me and my condition. She turned her head back to a figure standing in the doorway of the bedroom. "I just don't know what to do for him. Please Mima, help me. help him." she begged the unseen figure.

As I breathed slow and heavy, clenching my teeth, I looked to the figure and made out Mima Sawsaan standing in the door, she had about her a sense of alarm but certainty.

"I will help him in every way I can" She reassured Aine.

"You stole Guinan's fucking hat." I said to her amused through the pain.

"I am afraid, any references to your world will be lost on me." She said entertained.

"Aine tell you or did you just know?" I asked her with no accusation.

"I told you once before, I can see beyond the eyes of regular mortal beings.". She replied.

"You should do stock trading then." I groaningly joked to her.

Aine's look showed some disapproval of my treatment of her holy woman "Hush now, no more jokes, the aid of a Mima is nothing to be laughed at. If ya really are dying she may be the only one that can help ya.".

The Mima nodded "He's alright, in the worst of pain jokes can comfort us and give us strength. Do try to be calm though, unless you just like being dramatic." She gestured over to the blankets on the floor.

"My time in Nam took its toll." I replied in an Alabamian drawl with a half-smirk. My thoughts and dreams were scattered. pain always sent me into odd fever dreams that transcended into the day, into my thoughts and how I thought them.

Aine began to speak up about her concerns as the Mima looked over me "He thinks his organs are bleeding, that's he's, "she paused briefly as she considered what I'd told her "dyin' from within."

Sawsaan's eyebrow cocked up as she leaned her head to the side "Yes, I should think that is true."

Aine's hands clenched into fists of nervousness as I chuckled through the pain. "Why not?" I began giggling "Why not have my meaningless pile of shit life end in just the weirdest fucking way, while I was just on the verge of true happiness." There was an ironic jest to my words.

Aine snapped at me, her heart had had enough "SHUT IT! You don't know that!".

Mima placed a hand out behind her to calm Aine as she looked over me. "I hate to disappoint you but you are not beyond my ability to heal you. Your glorious death will just have to wait" She said with a smile. "And please, stop saying these things, can't you see poor Aine is in pain." She jested as if Aine were the one truly in mortal peril here and I was just being an insensitive ass.

A few pained laughs later I replied "Even your holy people are better, god damn Aine, your race is just fucking perfect. My '_holy_' man evicted me and fired my parents so he wouldn't be challenged while he made a buck.".

The Mima's eyes widened as she replied: "Then, I would think, he is not a holy man.".

"She's perfect." I replied to Aina "Can she fly too?" I said sarcastically and then began to point at the wings behind her back "Oooohhh" I set about making overly dramatic, surprised gasps as I pointed and made faces of disbelief.

The two of them started giggling together exchanging glances of amusement. Finally, the joke had played its course as Mima Sawsaan waited patiently. "Alright, you've had your fun, now, let me set to work on you." She said like a true elder and leader.

Aine spoke to herself "Ya little shit.".

~O~

The Mima leaned over me, she examined my injuries carefully, as if she could see through my skin, deep inside to what was wrong. Her examination lasted for sometime before she finally spoke: "Today, I will start with his fingers and work on his 'internal bleeding'." She said quoting me.

She set her fingers about my broken hand. I wanted to retract it in fear, but her gentle touch calmed me. A strange power emanated from her and I couldn't understand the truth of it. She worked her hands over mine in a massaging motion, I could feel the bones in my hand pop and crack, I breathed rapidly from fear and tried to rip my hand away once or twice but she was stronger than I'd expected. The feeling was frightening and unpleasant but it lacked true pain.

Taking bravery, I looked onwards to my fingers and watched as they moved themselves to a more natural position.

~O~

"Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck..." I just kept repeating as I watched them move, they had hurt so badly, a searing pain moved through them and the thought of them moving at all terrified me.

Mima Sawsaan ignored me, I wished she'd made some joke at my choice of words but it never came. "You missed a 'golden' opportunity there." I jokingly referenced to her apparel.

She ignored me and continued her work to its completion. I was about to move my hand when she looked up at me, her eyes had turned a solid intimidating gold, there was an otherworldliness to her voice "Do not move them, they are still broken." She echoed out.

~O~

Next, she set about my chest and stomach. Her hands pushed into my flesh gently but it moved deeper than I thought the force should have permitted. Her hands moved back and forth and I noticed Aine at the edge of the room watching on with concern and surprise. had she never seen this miracle either? Well then just what the hell made me so damn special? They went through a war, didn't they? Seems trauma would have been commonplace.

I relaxed as a genuinely pleasant sensation rolled over me, I hadn't felt good since before the attack. After a short time longer she slowed and then stopped.

~O~

"That is all I can do for today, I will return tomorrow." She said as Aine helped her up from the bed and guided her to the door.

"Thank you Mima." she said quietly as she helped the Mima out of the room. It was sometime before she came back and so I imagined she'd helped Mima Sawsaan to the door of the pub. By the time she returned I was long asleep and apparently she decided not to disturb me once more.

~O~

~O~

~O~

* * *

**End Day: 3**

~O~

Current Funds: n/a

Daily Income:

-Daily Income after daily expenses:

~O~

Amount Spent:

~O~

**Payments-**

~O~

~O~

~O~

**Developing Skills-**

~O~

**Healing**

Current Day: 0

~O~

~O~

~O~


	10. Chapter 10: Past and Present

**Chapter 10: Past and Present**

~O~

~O~

~O~

I must have been unconscious for the remainder of the day because I next noticed Aine coming into the room with a plate of breakfast. Fae had a different concept of what flavors were for breakfast but I'd come to really appreciate them.

~O~

"Mornin" She announced as the door came open. "I'm hopin' yer up ta eatin' because I've got a lovely plate made up for ya." she said in the most comforting tones.

I shifted around under the covers as the various aches and pains came to life. I groaned and sat up "No fair, that's just playing dirty.".

She smiled kindly as she began to set the plate up on my lap. "Well, what choice did ya leave me. I'm out of time, I got a full run of patrons about to be linen up for breakfast. Sleepin' in as ya are".

I looked up to her, with limited time I didn't want to small talk much "Last night was awful." I began to explain, my voice still rough and dry.

"Ya? What was wrong with it?" She asked as she set about the room trying to make things more comfortable for me, which was really just busywork.

"I felt guilty stealing your bed" I continued to explain.

"No, don't worry about that, couch's fine." She replied nonchalantly.

"It was also the nightmares." I pressed forward. "I keep having them." I told her, the dread of sleeping showing.

She gave me a sympathetic look and nodded "Aye, that, yeah. I'm not sure there's much for it. When I came here I had the bloody things for months.".

"I don't want to be alone tonight." I finally told her, I was scared to sleep and she knew it. I thought if a friend were there it'd help some.

She took it in and considered it for a moment. "Alright, couch isn't really that comfy anyways." She agreed. "Just sleep though, nothing else." She elaborated.

I chuckled as I'd been embarrassed at the insinuation. "And uhh, what _hands _am I going to hold you with anyways. I can just see the romance now, full of screaming and yelling... From the pain.".

She cocked an eyebrow "Well ya, that would be a sight wouldn'it, I think I could enjoy that. Give ya some hell for all the worry yau've put on me. I've only known ya for three days now, two really and the once thing I'm certain of is that your nothin but trouble.".

"It's not me, I swear, it's just chance." I replied.

"Still trouble if ya ask me." She responded. "Now, I've got to head down, I'll be back up in a bit to check on ya, glass of water's here." She said pointing to a glass she set out for me on the dresser.

"Thank you, Aine.".

"Yer welcome." She said with a nod and then closed the door.

~O~

In the time that I'd gotten to know Aine, I'd come to learn she had a sort of half accent that showed itself every so often. It was the second sexiest thing about her, following behind those damn wings. I still hadn't touched those things, I was afraid it was rude to ask or they were sacred in some way. Like awkwardly asking to touch her inner thigh or some shit. That would be embarrassing.

I had now, a chance to look around her room, see more of her house and decor, it helped me put into frame who she was.

The room had a queen-size bed sitting in the center, in a rather simple iron wrought frame. To the right of the person laying down was a nightstand, a lamp sat on it next to the glass of water she'd placed there.

The room boasted the red curtains and similar architecture to the living room with the amber walls, dark hardwood floors, carved baseboards and mouldings around the top of the room.

The only other item that sat in the room was the wooden, carved dresser over by the door.

The layout was such that you entered the room in the corner, the dresser to your right, the wall to the left. The bed sat center and the nightstand to its left. Behind the bed and on the left wall sat two windows, each draped in red curtains.

~O~

After I'd taken it all in, I realized there wasn't much to glean from this room about her personality or character. It was merely a place to sleep and get dressed. Except that she only had the one outfit so either the dresser was empty or it held keepsakes. Without her showing them to me, I would never know.

I was injured and in pain but I was awake, and as long as I was awake I could make progress. As I'd decided before, MLK knew more about how to handle this kind of shit than any guerilla warfare tactician. I looked for my phone and realized I didn't have a clue where it was.

"SHIT" I shouted out.

Carefully and slowly I slid my white-gowned ass out of bed. My feet lowered to the floor and pain shot throughout me.

"Yeah, Yeah, I know, your un-fucking-happy. Deal with it" I told my body.

I began hobbling my way over to the door.

"Where the fuck is my shit?" I asked no one in particular.

If memory served and I was lucky, the phone would be in my coat's pocket. I dragged myself out into the hall and nearly lost balance, quickly gripping my hand to the door frame for support.

"Fuck you!, Fuck you!" I cursed.

I set about to move again and meandered down the hall. I made it to the bathroom and looked around. Nothing.

"Shit" I cursed again.

I headed to the living room, taking each step carefully. As I reached the opening in the hallway I could clearly see about the living room and couldn't find my clothes anywhere.

"Oh come the fuck on, its only got the three damn rooms!" I complained.

I looked over at the door to the stairs. I considered calling down for Aine, the thought of interrupting her further was extremely uncomfortable, so I began my trudge over to the door. The door opened and I looked at the threatening steps below. They promised horrific injury at one missed step and I had already nearly fallen over exiting the bedroom.

I heard Aine down below, I could vaguely tell she was taking an order.

My foot lowered to the first step and I gripped the wall hard in fear. I found my toes firmly touch the step below. I then raised my right leg up a half an inch and dragged it over slowly.

I could feel my hands shake as I looked down the stairs. There was a very real fear of falling down, my body didn't want to move right. Asking anything of it caused sufficient pain.

I lowered my leg to the next step carefully as my foot trembled from taught muscles.

I had gotten myself halfway down the stairs when a sudden sound tore past me and I felt like I was falling, my hands sprung out to grab the walls and my fractured elbows cried in agony. As I had caught myself I registered the sound.

"OH FER FUCK'S SAKE!" Aine had yelled up to me from below. "Are ya tryin' to get yer self killed!?" She continued.

"Oh, Aine, Hi..." I began before she cut me short.

"Oh don't you 'oh fukin hi' me mister!" She began to stomp up the stairs towards me.

'Oh shit, pissed off red-head'. I thought.

From down below I could hear a male voice comment "Stubborn fools trying to come down the stairs."

Aine had reached me and began putting herself under me taking my weight. "Now just what daft thing did ya feel was so important ya had to come the fuk downstairs for."

"Uhh, my clothes. Where are they?" I asked sheepishly.

"You and your bloody fuking clothes, well they aren't anymore, I washed'em, and they're out on the fukin line. Your not gettin' dressed, ya hear me!" She snipped at me.

"Yeah, no, my phone, I'm hoping..."

She took her head back and looked at me, giving a nod of understanding. "Oh, that, yeah. I got that. It was in yer coat pocket." She explained calmly. How did she do that, pure fire one moment and then sympathetic the next? "Let me get your daft arse back upstairs, then I'll get it for ya.".

~O~

She'd gotten me up to the bed, gently laying me down before she turned over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. A moment later she produced my phone.

"There, now, if I give this to ya, will ya be happy?" She asked me firmly.

"Yes." I replied ashamed "I'm sorry.".

"It's alright," she said as she handed me the phone. "Is there anythin' else I can get for ya before I head back downstairs?"

"No, I'm really sorry." I said again.

"Ya said it the once and it's done." she replied with a finality. "Alright then, no more adventures, ya just get healed up, alright?"

I nodded to her as she left the room.

~O~

~O~

~O~

I looked down to the phone in my hand. I thought they would have checked me and found it, but they didn't seem to have. I then imagined they laughed at the corpse they dragged in and through on the stone floor to die. Never bothering to go through any kind of searching policy, assuming they had one.

The thought sent me into one of my convulsions as I screamed out "KILL THEM!" upstairs, above the patrons. I never knew if anyone had heard me.

I breathed deeply for a while, enraged at how close I'd been to death. "They'll pay, I'll make them fucking pay." I promised myself.

Setting that thought aside, for now, I still had to play nice with the local human populace, despite how much I'd come to harbour hate for them. I knew in my mind my injuries were the actions of but a few men but in my heart, the seed of hatred had sprouted.

It was an interesting cycle of mine to hate unreasonably before calming down and coming to terms with the truth. For my attackers however, the pact had been sealed.

~O~

~O~

~O~

I set about researching MLK, first for a nice overview to understand the man I went to his wiki page:

en. wikipedia wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr .

~O~

~O~

**AN: **Like WW2 history, do not learn your fucking history from me, I'm taking cliff notes and highlights, I'm sure to get shit wrong, it's well documented elsewhere.

~O~

~O~

The first thing I saw about him was that he'd only lived to the age of 39.

Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968).

The man was a mere 6 years older than me when he died. As if his life and purpose was to fulfill that one goal, to bring a nation together. I had at times theorized about the great people of history and their often tragic fates. I often speculated that they were themselves forces of fate, their destiny handpicked for a single important purpose and that is why the rest of us never joined them in the status of greatness.

It chilled me to imagine that everything that happened to me to this point was leading me to my life's true purpose and that, like MLK, I had a mere six years left to live. I knew that political activists were frequently assassinated, I knew there must be those who felt strongly about the events on the other side. That I was going to upset them and their plans.

"Let's refrain from comparing perpetual failures like myself to MLK, at least for now, ok." I told myself. Next, I was surprised to see that he was inspired by the actions of Mahatma Gandhi. "History repeats itself." I mused.

It seemed many who were successful before had used a previously successful figure as a starting point or inspiration. Hitler, before going to prison tried to emulate the October rebellion led by Lenin, if I had recalled that correctly.

In my brief overview, it seemed MLK led a number of marches and non-violent protests not unlike my Vigil idea. I was about to read more on those but I was stopped at the part where J. Edgar Hoover 'considered him a radical and listed him an object of the FBI's Cointelpro, which: 'was a series of covert and, at times, illegal projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.'.

I wasn't nieve but I always hated coming across shady shit my country had done in the past. Like a parent finding out their son was a murderer of random people 'I wanted to believe in you.' and like the parent, I always believed it could still do better in the future.

"Too bad Hoover turned out to be a schmuck though." I remorsed. I hadn't known him well but I kinda thought he was one of the good guys but how good can you be when you label MLK as some kind of political terrorist. It strongly implied that he was racist. "News flash, the good guys aren't fucking racist." I announced, before returning to my review.

Further review was required before I would make a strong opinion, but it wasn't gonna happen now. All that mattered about Hoover is that the government was antagonistic to MLK and I would likely face similar threats. "God forbid we treat the fae as fucking equals" I mocked.

Ah, as I read further, Cointelpro had also put the KKK on their list and MLK was on there for suspicions of being Communist. It didn't make it good but it was better than I initially thought, a well-researched friend had mentioned he was Communist, that they'd found a ton of paraphernalia from them when he died.

I didn't know if it was true or not, it didn't really bother me much, it made sense. The base idea behind Communism is that everyone is equal. It fit his ideals. Of course, that's not what actually happens in Communism but MLK wasn't sending out lists of people to kill every night, he, maybe, liked a different type of government.

Anyways, none of it was relevant. He had organized a number of protests, I had pulled up each of their pages and was about to look over their highlights.

I started with the Selma to Montgomery Marches; they were three protest marches with the effort of getting the right to vote when they crossed Alabama state lines they were attacked by state police and possemen. "So it's gonna get bloody, no surprise there." I commented.

In my original warfare strategies, I aimed to maximize enemy casualties while minimalizing our own. An obvious effort in war to be sure. I had come up with semi-safe strategies like not fighting in the streets, using bombs on their factories and armories and also taking out countless troops by setting a ruse that we planned to cross the three bridges all at once and then, once they'd fortified them with their soldiers, blowing them up from underneath.

There had to be, in political warfare, a similar way to be cleverly tactical. I didn't really have to just march people some 54 fucking miles into an obviously violent mob, did I?

Here was an important note, Amelia Boynton, in what I believed was the first march, had been beaten unconscious by law enforcement, but then pictures were circulated by the media.

"Heh, remember when the media used to find injustices and bring them to our attention, instead of just be the puppets of a political party. Pepperidge Farms remembers." I amused myself.

The significance here was that images of Amelia hurt the opposing force, they looked like bastards for beating a woman unconscious. It was nothing I could force to happen or fake without being evil in one form or another but if it did happen I wanted to make sure I could capitalize on it.

I'd need a camera, from the images of the local paper, they had them. Ah, which also meant there was one there, at the newspapers. I'd had ideas on how to work them into my efforts already. An alliance with the papers could prove to be very important.

~O~

Ah, in the second march the opponents had used a new strategy, at the edge of the county, troopers and police stepped aside to let the protestors through, but the court had placed into play a federal injunction. It was a court order for MLK and the protestors to cease, it forced him to return to the church.

So, in the first march they used violence but the attack on Amelia gave huge backlash, next they used a federal injunction or court order to tell them to cease. 'So when violence fails they fall to bureaucracy, no surprise there.' I considered.

Excited to see the result of the third march I read on. So next after he turned around, minister James Reeb, was murdered by racists. That, combined with Amelia's attacks, as well as countless others dubbed; 'Bloody Sunday', during the first march, lead to national outcry.

Now in this version, they had the right to protest. I wasn't sure whether the fae did or not. Also, I would definitely need media coverage. Regrettably part of the strategy involved showing people how barbaric the police were. As I'd discovered first hand, there was plenty of that here to be revealed.

'A good ol' smear campaign against the practices might be something to look into' I thought. No action would be taken until I, if possible, found historical relevance.

In the Selma Marches, one thing they wanted for the third march was protection for the marchers, this surely would have come from the federal level. Fed's protecting the protestors from state police. The Burgue, however, was set-up more like England, there really wasn't a federal level to go to, it was all the same country.

Still, while in a very different way, one of Che's big points was the usefulness of the rural populace. Perhaps outside of the city I could find more humanity but reaching them would be difficult.

In the third march and now I understood their purpose for 54 miles, they started with 1,900 and ended with 25,000. The purpose of the distance was to collect supporters. My vigil would have to start in The Row as it was in a ghetto but perhaps, we could one day march the longest most populated road in the country right to Balefire Hall.

'Aaaand I read that wrong, they were _protected_ by 1,900 people, who knows what they started with.' I noted. It's still probably the purpose of the distance though. Still, it took them 5 days to get there. Would farmers really care enough about the fae to join them for a 3-5 day march? That didn't seem likely. Not unless the papers had built us greater support.

~O~

~O~

**An: **So in storytelling, there is a thing I call 'The Plan'. The plan is always that scene where they say; "Here's the plan.". Now if they show the scene then the plan cannot work because now the audience knows the plan and that would be boring. If they don't then it has to go exactly according to plan or you'll never know what the plan was. If the plan is simple then it will go close to the plan but of course, complications will arise to make it interesting. Pray tell then, since I want to do this researching and planning scene, how does 'the plan' play out? lol

~O~

~O~

Further research showed that he acquired their rights in parts, which had already been my intent all along but it was nice to know it was a good model. First and foremost we needed to end the ghetto, then move towards condemnation of police brutality, then we move into making speciel discrimination illegal, then finally we aim for fae voting rights.

I continued my research for a time longer until next I saw Aine.

~O~

~O~

~O~

Instead of Aine, the door was opened by Mima Sawsaan. I was laying in bed reading my phone, it's sunlight charger sitting in the window sill when she entered. My face was still horribly swollen, I could feel the right eye was the worst. It had taken a lifetime of abuse over my life, a nightstand swan-dive when I was two, a kid's whole weight falling on me into straight ice in the fourth grade, A 70 mile an hour car accident going sideways in which my head bounced off the stick shift when I was a late teen and then finally police brutality. Probably all the built-up bone is why they didn't break my skull.

"Mima." I greeted her looking out from behind my phone.

"It's good to see you again, different circumstances would be better though." She replied.

"No shit." I chuckled "You too."

"That device. Is it from..." She paused to contemplate her choice of words.

"My world?" I finished for her.

"Yes, what does it do." She asked politely.

"Run's my fucking life" I replied dryly at first "No, its a device, it connects me to things, imagine being connected to all the libraries in the world and a lot of its people, but anyone can say or add anything they want." I explained.

"It sounds useful but dangerous. Does it connect you to this world's libraries?" She asked.

"No, nothing from this world, it has to be put on the network in my world in order to access it. Here, let me show you." I invited her up.

She sat on the bed beside me as I turned the phone to face her, it was still on the wiki page of MLK "So, this is Wikipedia, its an ever-growing encyclopedia of endless size, right now I'm reading about this badass from my world, Martin Luther King Jr. Fucker took massive strides in ending hostilities between what we call 'blacks' and 'whites' and his people were slaves in that country for like a few hundred years I think.

"Blacks and whites?" She questioned.

"Oh, we don't have fae where I'm from so we hate each other instead. 'Blacks' are just people with darker colored skin and 'whites' well, I'm 'white'. It's an entirely made up difference racists invented some few centuries ago so they could justify their racism, they even invented the term 'race' if I recall correctly. I don't remember the details, I was doing skin research when I came upon it" I explained.

"That seems to be a very powerful device," She noted. "and this one man took his people from slavery to be treated as equals?" She asked intrigued.

"No, no way, he wasn't alone, that'd be impossible, but he was, as history recalls him, the flagship." I answered.

"And that's why you read about him here, you wish to know how he accomplished this?" She was realizing.

"Damn right, I can not only find out what he did right and what he did wrong but also how his enemies responded. Our enemies will never see the freight train that ran their sorry asses over." I exclaimed.

She gave me a look that said 'emm hmm' "What a colorful way to explain that." she acknowledged.

"To that end, I need your help." I continued.

"In what?" She asked calmly.

"In organizing the people, I need to get them together to fight this, like MLK, I need a team of leaders to help me make things right here." I told her.

"It is not the way of our people, for the Mima and the Haruspex to ally." She responded considering it.

"Good thing I'm not a Haruspex then isn't it?" I said smugly.

She gave me a glance in reply "Times are desperate, I do not regret my decision to loan you the books.".

"We'll great, so, we're a team then, Me you and Aine, got anyone else in mind?" I asked her.

"I have agreed to..." She let out a sigh "Very well, I recommend Mima Roosan. We will listen to you and hear what you have to say." She agreed.

~O~

There was a pause as I nodded in agreement and took in the fact that my plan was becoming very real.

~O~

It was broken by Mima Sawsaan "I have been wondering since yesterday, who is Guinan?" She asked.

I started laughing uncontrollably, my face turned red, I tried to speak and then kept laughing while Mima Sawsaan waited very patiently for the joke to end. "Oh, she's from this..." I paused to think of a way to explain television quickly "well, it's like a play but more advanced, same concepts though. She's from some mysterious race of aliens. "I said as I pulled up her images.

"Alien? From where?" She asked.

"From space, like, another species" I replied.

"I thought your world had only humans?" She questioned.

"Oh it does but that doesn't keep us from imagining other things. Anyways she usually gives advice to people but she's also the only person on the entire show who can stand up to this asshole named 'Q'. He has god-like powers and uses them to be a jackass but she threatened to attack him once and he backed the fuck off. Cool character, I was just joking about the hat."

"No, I do see the resemblance, in a sense, but if my hat looks like her's then so does yours." She said entertained.

"Shit, we better give them back, she's not to be fucked with." I said laughing.

"Why don't I begin your treatment?" She more stated than asked.

"Well, because Aine's downstairs, and its time for me to switch gears, The Haruspex books are in Anounic. I need to learn the language, I was gonna get Aina to teach me but she doesn't have much time." I explained.

"Neither do I, I'm afraid, I lead our people, more than just you call to me." She replied.

"So, contrary to my beliefe, _I_, Am not, the center of _your_ universe." I said emulating Nick Fury talking to Ironman.

"There is some undertone I am not getting there, to your amusement I assume." She replied dryly kinda killing it for me.

~O~

I let out a chuckle and nodded in reply.

~O~

"I will help you, but briefly. Aine will have to teach you further." She explained.

"Great, just write out the letters and their phonetic sounds. I'll take it from there." I replied as enthusiastically as bruised ribs would let me.

She did as I asked and then when she was finished, set the paper and pencil aside and set about to healing me. Her treatment felt very odd, like my organs moved under my skin but it didn't hurt, it almost at times felt good.

When she was finished she waited by the bedside exhausted for a time.

"It takes something from you, doesn't it?" I asked her.

"Read the books... on Haruspexy... and know.. that I am it's opposite, then you will understand." She explained between breaths.

She left the room sometime after, once she'd caught her breath, even still she exited slowly. I knew too well to offer her aid.

~O~

~O~

~O~

I had spent the remainder of the day using a drawing app to practice writing the characters as I pronounced how they sounded. I even attempted to put them to the ABC song but it didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

The door opened to Aine coming in. "There, the day's done." She announced as she entered. "And how have we been, all snug and cozy?".

"Oh, I've been studying, Mima Sawsaan left me this." I said as I lifted up the letters and their sounds. "I think I'm getting it, I'll probably have to go over it more later. Still can't speak a word of Anounic though. You'll teach me though right?" I asked her hopeful and inquisitively.

She let out a sigh, she'd just finished a pain in the ass day of work and wanted to relax. I didn't mean to take that from her. "Yeah, how do ya want me to teach ya this?" She asked me.

"I don't know, like you would a child I guess." Worst. Choice. Of. Words. Ever. Period. I am fairly certain from this point forward she was giving me the equivalent to baby talk in Anounic. Not all the time, not screwing with my teaching but here and there. I guess it was her turn to have an in-joke to herself.

"Alright, you gotchya" She replied smugly.

'shit' I thought. Maybe it was a trick, maybe she didn't teach me in baby talk but the way she said that always made me paranoid and that's all she had to do.

~O~

We began going over simple words, thankfully, unlike Korean, they had the same sentence structure. Trying to learn Korean had been a trip, this wasn't so bad, not easy but it also didn't feel like trying to get a wall to take a relief impression of my face.

~O~

~O~

~O~

After she and I had gotten tired of learning and teaching, she set about to lie down next to me.

"Remember, we're just sleeping." She reminded me sternly.

"She said as if I had a history of being a womanizing, serial rapist." I joked.

"t's not fair, I can't hit ya when yer all broken up, just remember I plan on gettin' ya later for that, with interest too." She replied in jest.

"Ohh, I can already feel the pain. Oh, no, that's the actual pain, never mind" I continued to play.

She just shook her head at me, entertained. "Yer something else aren't ya."

"Yeah, I've been called that before." I replied before changing the subject. "Aine, are faerie wings sacred?"

"Sacred he says now" She laughed "Boy, you do just come up with the strangest things. No their not sacred, not really, sensitive maybe, special to us and delicate to some degree. Why?" She asked.

I let out a sigh of submission to my desire "Because, I really want to touch them but I wanted to make sure asking wasn't just this weird thing to say.".

"Well, ya wouldn't be the first," She said with a small level of resentment and then she sat up on the edge of the bed, her back to me. "Just the first _I'll_ let do it" She continued.

Her wing moved over towards me slowly and gently, I watched through her shirt where they connected to her back. It was an odd transition between the texture of skin and that of her iridescent wing. They looked delicate and weak in nature but I knew she could fly with them. In that moment it became my dream to see her do that once more.

'Of everyone that get's through this, I have to make sure you survive' I said to myself, It hit me like lightning, that then, it may not be me lying in the field of snow trying to place my guts back in. I could see her, dying their, scared and alone, too hurt to cry.

In an instant, I shuttered and pulled away as I let out a sudden '"Gah!"

She turned back to me in a blur, her wings pulled away and nimbly placed behind her. "What's wrong?" she asked as she looked over me her eyes staring into mine and moving about for the damage.

"Fuck" I exclaimed. "Its this stupid problem I have, It's not a big deal." I continued.

"Well, it seemed like a pretty big fukin deal." She replied, her voice pitched with concern.

"It's not, it's just this stress response. Sometimes I think of things, I get sucked into them and I have to pull away." I tried to appease her worry.

She looked to me and then asked curiously "Well, what was it?"

I shook my head "It was you... Shit that's not what I..."

Almost amused she asked "Me? Am I all that bad.".

My voice chilled and slowed as I looked up into her eyes. "Dying in a snowy field, alone and scared you are..." I had just admitted to her my biggest secret. I hated the idea of people knowing about my convulsions.

She stopped and considered for just a moment before looking up with a frown of doubt as she pulled her cheek muscle next to her nose up "Nope, false, it's gotta be, I don't get scared. Also, I can't die. So the whole thing is just bullshit." She smiled at me.

~O~

I smiled back and let out a nod. Wow, she just took my fucked up little spasm in stride and didn't care.

~O~

She then continued "Now, are ya gonna touch me damn wing er not" as she turned her back to me once more.

I sat up behind her, against the pain it caused me while she waited patiently. I took a breath and looked over her beautiful wings once more, setting the mood again. I slowly reached my hand out to touch her upper right wing at the tip. As my finger reached it she fluttered some and adjusted in her seat back and forth.

"Sorry" she whispered.

My finger slid down along her wing in a slow motion over each segmented section of it. They bubbled out over the large transparent areas and sank in as I reached the thin black lines surrounding them. They were softer than skin but smooth like glass, save for just the slightest of textures.

She shook her back gently as I moved down along her wing, I was giving her chills.

"Alright, their not that delicate" She announced as she reached back and grabbed the other wing with her hand and abruptly crunched it "Ow!... well don't do that, but see, it's fine." She said as it unfolded.

"How much can you move them?" I asked her. She began to curl them in the middle, pulling them in towards herself. "I hadn't imagined they could move dead center." I said.

She smiled back at me "Oh, that's nothin" She said and then she began to make them ripple in waves. "It's a trick I taught me self when I was a gurl.".

"Man, you are just so damn amazing." I said in response to her wings moving. I felt that the comment had reached her heart.

"Thank you for that" She replied gently. I knew why it meant so much to her, her in her flightless prison, brought on by hatred and ignorance. It was nice to see a part of the world cared.

"Yeah" I replied. I began to lay down and reached for her hand "Do you mind?".

"I s'pose not" She replied calmly as she let me take her hand in mine.

I hadn't been in bed with a woman in over 10 years, I'd been isolated from the world and relationships, first recluding inside my home and then forced into trucker life. I held her hand tightly, human contact, 'heh, 'human'' felt so good after so long.

I had pushed myself that day and sleep came easy to me, in moments the darkness of night had taken hold and with Aine's hand in mine, my nightmares had turned to fever dreams. It was a vast improvement.

~O~

~O~

~O~

**End Day: 4**

~O~

Current Funds: n/a  
Daily Income  
-Daily Income after daily expenses:

~O~

Amount Spent:

~O~

Payments-

**Developing Skills-**

~O~

**Healing**  
Current Day: 1

~O~

**Anounic**  
Hours per day: 4.5  
Total Hours: 4.5  
Hours to next level: 220  
Hours to Mastery: 1,100

~O~

~O~

~O~


End file.
